The Chief of the General staff told us that the Army is currently delivering 130% of its capacity.180 The First Sea Lord admitted that there are always more tasks for a Navy than there are ships.181 We heard that by Spring 2023 the RAF had delivered twice as many operational sorties as in the previous 12 months.182 The Minister for the Armed Forces acknowledged the pressure that the Forces were under: 169 Council of Reserves Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations, The United Kingdom Reserve Forces External Scrutiny Team Annual Statutory Report 2023, December 2023, Para 9 170 Council of Reserves Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations, The United Kingdom Reserve Forces External Scrutiny Team Annual Statutory Report 2023, December 2023, Para 10 171 Q244; 272 172 Q346 173 Ministry of Defence, Quarterly service personnel statistics 1 October 2023, 14 December 2023 174 Oral evidence taken on 4 July 2023, HC (2022–23) 1689 Q45; Q272; Q446; Q453 175 Q17 176 Defence Committee, Third Special Report of Session 2022–23, The Integrated Review, Defence in a Competitive Age and the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report, HC 865, p 6 177 Q17 178 Oral evidence taken on 18 April 2023, HC (2022–23) 1246, Q37 179 Q74; 76 180 Q223 181 Q287 182 Oral evidence taken on 4 July 2023, HC (2022–23) 1689, Q93 Ready for War? 35 The reality is that politicians ask chiefs to go well beyond what they are asked to provide for. … We are just going to have to accept that we will be running the force very hot indeed, and well beyond any reasonable planning assumptions. … we are asking more of the force right now than it is designed to deliver.183