First Report - Ready for War?

Select Committee

Defence Committee HC 26 4 February 2024

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 132 items (10 recs)

Source View on Parliament website

Government Response (AI assessment · 131 of 132 classified)

Accepted 79

Accepted in Part 5

Acknowledged 19

Deferred 11

Not Addressed 12

Rejected 5

Government response

Fourth Special Report - Ready for war?: Government response to the Committee's First Report of Session 2023-24 · published 25 Apr 2024

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Recommendations & Conclusions

11 results

79 Conclusion Deferred

UK Armed Forces fail to sustainably utilise reserve forces, hindering capability and deployment

Conclusion

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 … Read more 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 have a properly functioning Reserve” which he described as a “national embarrassment”.165 Professor Vince Connolly told us that part of the issue for the Army Reserve was that it was expected to provide both “individual backfill and some measure of collective capability” but that its size and its training (focused on “a wide set of missions and tasks”) hindered its ability to provide sustainability in an enduring high intensity large scale conflict.166 Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman thought that the Reserve ought to become a “pretty high priority” and that work ought to be carried out by the Services on how best to use reservists as well as integrating the Reserve with the Regular Force. He suggested that “there is an awful lot you could do with the reserves at a time when you are finding it difficult to recruit the regulars. It is a cultural thing as much as anything else”.167 Box 2: The Reserve Forces The reserve forces are made up of the following components: • The volunteer reserve forces (also referred to as the Active Reserve) are the Army Reserve, the Maritime Reserve and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. These are volunteers who commit to train for a certain number of days each year. Both civilians and ex-regular service personnel can join. • The ex-regular reserve force (also referred to as the Strategic Reserve) are those personnel who have left the Armed Forces but are subject to call-out (able to be mobilised for the period specified in their original commitment to serve) or recall (able to be mobilised in a national emergency despite having completed their residual commitment). • The Sponsored Reserve are reservists who are employed during a third-party contract to fulfil a Show less

Government Response Summary

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

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80 Conclusion Deferred

Health of UK Reserve Forces poor and declining, with higher outflow than intake

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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81 Conclusion Deferred

Reserve forces recruitment challenging, lacking mass required for large-scale conflict

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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92 Conclusion Deferred

MOD Permanent Secretary acknowledges high outflow and low inflow, planning new entry routes.

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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108 Conclusion Deferred

UK Armed Forces face significant capability shortfalls and unresolved personnel recruitment crisis.

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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 implementation, including a roadmap for recruitment and retention, during 2024.

Ministry of Defence

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109 Conclusion Deferred

Produce and share an implementation timetable with measurable deliverables for adopted recruitment plans.

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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5 Conclusion Deferred

Propose annual mechanism for the Defence Committee to receive detailed updates on armed forces readiness

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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6 Recommendation Deferred

Rectify reduction in public accountability and consult committees before classifying readiness information

Recommendation

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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7 Recommendation Deferred

Para 107

Produce breakdown of Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023 budget allocations for stockpiles

Recommendation

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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9 Conclusion Deferred

Para 109

Produce and share implementation timetable with measurable deliverables for recruitment and retention

Conclusion

Government Response Summary

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

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18 Conclusion Deferred

Para 143

Operational demands create personnel retention issues and growing capability shortfalls in services.

Conclusion

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 … Read more

Government Response Summary

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

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