Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
The Department plans to make substantial reductions to its military and civilian workforces over the...
Conclusion
The Department plans to make substantial reductions to its military and civilian workforces over the next 10 years. These include reducing the Army from 82,000 to 73,000; other savings equivalent to reducing trained military workforce by 6,350 (and their untrained workforce by 1,450) by 2030; and a 10% further reduction in the cost of the civilian workforce by 2024–25. As reported by the NAO report, the targets are already harder than expected as the uncertain economic outlook of the past two years caused by the pandemic has meant that fewer personnel have left the armed forces than normal.50 But the Department told us that the military reduction plans are now relatively mature, and the civilian reductions are broadly deliverable.51
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2022 4.2 The department recognises the importance of managing risks to affordability, particularly from challenges in areas such as workforce and estates. 4.3 The EP21 set out an affordable plan for 2021-2031, providing detail of levers in place to protect against the risk of overspend and unaffordability. The 2020 Spending Review uplift, alongside savings measures, enabled the department to address a pre-existing deficit whilst also holding contingency to mitigate against unforeseen risks. 4.4 A major focus of the EP22 will be the affordability picture for 2022-32, how the department is ensuring a sustainable plan and the reliability of data and assumptions behind this. The department will describe the range of risk factors, whilst setting out how it plans to address these to maintain an affordable Plan. 4.5 However, the scope of the Plan and associated report will remain focused on equipment procurement and support, not on defence spending as a whole.