Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether armed forces recruitment targets are being met.

The Government is focused upon improving Armed Forces recruitment, modernising and refining our policies and processes to attract the best possible talent. The results are clear; UK Regular Armed Forces intake has increased by 13% when compared to previous 12-months and intake is now greater than outflow at the Tri-service level, for the first time in four years.

We have delivered this through policies which have included a 35% pay increase for new recruits; one of the largest pay increases in the last 20 years for existing personnel; scrapping over 100 outdated medical policies; the creation of novel entry pathways such as the military Direct-Entry Cyber and ZigZag Careers pathways as well as the recently announced Armed Forces Foundation Scheme (‘Gap Year’); and delivering the ambition to make a conditional offer of employment to candidates within 10 days, and a provisional training start date within 30 days.