Recommendations & Conclusions
11 items
79
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
A number of our witnesses were concerned with how the UK Armed Forces utilised their reserve forces. Professor Justin Bronk suggested that neither the Army nor the Air Force had “really figured out how to use the reserves sustainably” and Lord Houghton told us that that the UK did “not …
Government response. The committee's response indicates that the government has acknowledged the issues with reserve forces and is deferring detailed action to be based on recommendations from the upcoming Reserve Forces 2030 Review and Haythornthwaite Review.
Ministry of Defence
80
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
As with the regular Forces, the Reserve Forces also saw a higher outflow than intake in the year up to October 2023.168 The External Scrutiny Team (mandated to report on the ‘state of the volunteer reserve forces’) found in their 2023 annual report that “the state, 165 Q47; Q108 166 …
Government response. The committee's response implies the government acknowledged the concerns regarding the declining state of the Reserve Forces and intends to address them through recommendations from the forthcoming Reserve Forces 2030 Review and Haythornthwaite Review.
Ministry of Defence
81
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
Both the Chief of the General Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff told us that they were trying to grow their reserve forces but were concerned by their ability to recruit.171 Conversely First Sea Lord felt that “recruiting reserves is in some areas proving easier” than recruiting regulars.172 …
Government response. The committee's response indicates that the government has acknowledged the challenges in growing and utilising reserve forces, deferring plans for improvement to future recommendations from the Reserve Forces 2030 Review and Haythornthwaite Review.
Ministry of Defence
92
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
In December 2023, the MOD Permanent Secretary acknowledged that “inflow [into the UK Armed Forces] is not at the level we need, and outflow is too high” and (alongside the recommendations produced by the Haythornthwaite Review on zig-zag careers and total reward) pointed both to work being carried out on …
Government response. The government indicates that a formal response to the Haythornthwaite Review's 67 accepted recommendations, outlining next steps for delivery and implementation, will be published during 2024, deferring the Permanent Secretary's hope for a detailed plan by the end of 2023.
Ministry of Defence
108
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
There are multiple capability shortfalls within the UK Armed Forces. For that reason, we welcome the decision to maintain the Albion-class vessels in operational service until their out of service dates in the 2030s. However, we are also increasingly concerned about the ability of the Armed Forces to attract and …
Government response. The government acknowledges the challenges in recruitment and retention, stating that all 67 recommendations from the Haythornthwaite Review were accepted in the Defence Command Paper refresh. It commits to publishing a formal government response outlining next steps for delivery and …
Ministry of Defence
109
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
Efforts to improve the recruitment and retention of both Regulars and Reserves are currently being considered by the MOD. We therefore recommend that once decisions have been made to adopt these recommendations, an implementation timetable with measurable deliverables is produced and shared with us so that we can scrutinise the …
Government response. The government commits to publishing a formal response to the Haythornthwaite Review during 2024, which will outline next steps for delivery, a broad roadmap for recruitment and retention, and regularly reported key progress indicators.
Ministry of Defence
5
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
In a functioning democracy, the House of Commons Defence Committee needs to be routinely informed about the planning assumptions and readiness of the nation’s armed forces. We therefore recommend that—following the Minister’s welcome commitment to work with us—the Government propose how we and our successors can receive at least annually …
Government response. The government did not commit to providing routine detailed updates on planning assumptions and readiness, instead detailing recent financial allocations for resilience, munitions stockpiles, and replenishment of aid to Ukraine.
Ministry of Defence
6
Recommendation
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
We also recommend that the Government explain why previously unclassified information about readiness is no longer published, recognise the reduction in public and parliamentary accountability that this has brought about, and seek to rectify the situation. In future, when a decision is being considered to classify previously available information, we …
Government response. The government's response discussed the importance of recruitment and retention for the Armed Forces, committing to publish a formal response to the Haythornthwaite Review recommendations during 2024, which does not address the committee's recommendation about classifying readiness information.
Ministry of Defence
7
Recommendation
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
The commitments made to replenish and increase stockpiles made since the 2022 Autumn Budget have all been welcome. The question remains whether this is anywhere near enough to meet the potential threats we face. It is therefore disturbing to hear that the £1.95 billion awarded as part of the Spring …
Government response. The government's response deflects the recommendation regarding stockpiles and budget allocation by focusing entirely on recruitment and retention issues, stating a formal HMG response to the Haythornthwaite Review will be published in 2024 to outline next steps for people-related reforms.
Ministry of Defence
9
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
Efforts to improve the recruitment and retention of both Regulars and Reserves are currently being considered by the MOD. We therefore recommend that once decisions have been made to adopt these recommendations, an implementation timetable with measurable deliverables is produced and shared with us so that we can scrutinise the …
Government response. The government's response outlined the new purpose of Defence and broad strategic investments and capabilities from the Defence Command Paper 2023, but did not commit to providing an implementation timetable with measurable deliverables for recruitment and retention initiatives.
Ministry of Defence
18
Conclusion
First Report - Ready for War?
Deferred
Personnel need time to recover from operations, and time to train and develop new skills. But the demand of operations makes that harder to achieve. It is unsurprising that more people are leaving the Forces than joining them. All three services have growing capability shortfalls—these have been a feature of …
Government response. The government acknowledges the issue of personnel shortfalls and states that a formal response to the Haythornthwaite Review recommendations on recruitment and retention, outlining next steps and a roadmap, will be published in 2024.
Ministry of Defence