Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 95
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)
Both the Chief of the Defence Staff and the MOD Permanent Secretary pointed out that much of the work relating to the Haythornthwaite Review would impact on thinking about the Reserves.200 In July 2023 the Chief of the Defence Staff told us that the MOD intended to respond to Lord Lancaster’s 2021 report on the Reserve Forces Review 2030 (RF30) in April 2024201 and in October, the Minister for Defence People and Veterans announced the creation of a Reserves Roadmap which would look at synergising the recommendations of both the RF30 Report and the Haythornthwaite Review in order to align and implement them. The Minister told the House that the intention was: To enhance the way reserves are utilised and supported, Defence will take a more strategic, top-down approach, to address policy and process frustrations, and tackle the cultural and resource issues Reservists face. This will also improve the structures and mobilisation processes needed to generate second- and third-echelon forces to reinforce and sustain warfighting capabilities, protect the Homeland, and strengthen national resilience.202 Prioritisation and specialisation
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.