Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 92
First Report - Ready for War?
Published 4 Feb 2024
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee Armed Forces Readiness All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
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 new routes in, including allowing lateral entry into the Armed Forces, and on bringing people who had previously served back into the Armed Forces. He told us that pilot studies were being carried out and that he hoped to have a detailed implementation plan before Ministers before the end of 2023. He acknowledged that the Department had to “get after it at pace”.196
From: Defence Committee, First Report - Ready for War? (HC 26), 4 February 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 April 2024 (deadline 4 April 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees there is no regular mechanism to scrutinise readiness and offers an annual open session, releases some Defence Planning Assumptions headlines, and sets out its position on stockpiles, recruitment and procurement.
- On transparency, the government "recognises that the Committee should have public access to more information on planning assumptions and readiness" and releases headlines from the 2023 assumptions, committing to release "as much as possible" of the next iteration "when national and NATO planning processes have matured".
- It agrees the response time for the inquiry was slow and "will make every effort to ensure this is not repeated".
- On the £1.95bn from the Spring Budget 2023, it states the money "will be spent in full on measures to address gaps in our capabilities". It says exact stockpile holdings are "not releasable on the grounds of national security".
- On recruitment and retention, it says a formal response to each Haythornthwaite Review recommendation "will be published during 2024", with next steps for delivery and implementation for each.