Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 70 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what his planned timetable is for making these day-to-day processes easier.

The Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan (which is part of our Defence Investment Plan) to be published in the autumn, will include initiatives that will deliver automation across Human Resources, Finance and Commercial functions, driven through Corporate Services Modernisation that will deliver improved processes through new automated tools and systems across the functions.

The specific automation savings and timelines across all workforces are currently being defined in detail to meet the Strategic Defence Review recommendations. The benefits and associated financial savings with these initiatives along with the timelines to deliver this are subject to the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan. The automation of HR, Financial and Commercial processes will enable Defence to redeploy Armed Forces Personnel from administrative roles to Front Line roles.