Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
43rd Report - MoD’s oversight of Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations
Published 5 Sep 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee MoD’s oversight of Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Council explained that each of the armed forces would decide how to accommodate more cadets, through a combination of increasing the size and number of cadet units. The RFCAs would then support the chosen approach.18 The Department said that there was no lack of interest in young people wanting to join the cadets. However, the Department stressed that expansion is dependent on having the adult volunteers who run the cadets, and that the shortage of these was an issue. The Department is still working out how to address this shortage. It acknowledged that it would need to review and improve the proposition for adult volunteers, for example by giving them the necessary support and, where appropriate, financial remuneration.19 However, the Department also explained that the issue 14 Q 7; C&AG’s Report, para 1.4; Ministry of Defence, Strategic Defence Review, 2025, Part 1 para 23 and Recommendation 26; Letter from Ministry of Defence PUS, 9 July 2025, para 18 15 Letter from Ministry of Defence PUS, 9 July 2025, paras 18 to 20 16 Letter from Ministry of Defence PUS, 9 July 2025, paras 1 to 17; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.23 and 2.24 17 Qq 7 and 19; letter from Assistant Chief of Defence Staff Reserves and Cadets, 27 June 2025; C&AG’s Report, paras 1.5 and 2.22 18 Q 51 19 Qq 7, 51 and 53 11 should be examined across the whole of society: for example, it claimed that the introduction of VAT on private school fees had affected some schools’ ability to employ additional staff to look after cadet activities.20
From: Public Accounts Committee, 43rd Report - MoD’s oversight of Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (HC 893), 5 September 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-third Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 5 November 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-third report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on the Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations, with target dates mainly of March or June 2026, and disagrees with one on publishing the 2023-24 accounts.
- On the Reserves, it agrees to set out its plan by March 2026 and says it will provide updates on progress as requested; it plans legislative measures in the next Armed Forces Bill to increase Active Reserves towards the 20% target, "when the financial situation allows".
- On Cadets, it agrees to a plan by June 2026 and says development of a programme plan for growth in Cadet numbers is "well underway", including work on adult volunteers and safeguarding capacity.
- On the proposed NDPB, it agrees to update the Committee by March 2026 and says the proposal "remains one of the measures being developed for potential inclusion in the 2026 Armed Forces Bill".
- It disagrees with the recommendation to publish the 2023-24 accounts in a compliant format, saying it is working to lay the 2023-24 and 2024-25 accounts "as planned in 2025-26" and acknowledging that "certain areas are not currently compliant with the FReM".