Harvey quizzes Ainsworth

8.39.00pm GMT Tue 4th Mar 2008

[Mar 03] Nick Harvey (North Devon, Liberal Democrat): Are Ministers able to update the House on recruitment to the services?

Are they alarmed that the rate of drop-out from basic Army training has jumped from a quarter to a third? Will they confirm that there is a shortfall in manpower among recruiting staff? Given that the most recent figures show-again-that the number of people leaving the forces exceeds those coming in, is not recruitment from the Commonwealth rather saving the day? What are Ministers doing to improve the situation?

Bob Ainsworth (Minister of State (Armed Forces), Ministry of Defence): I am not trying to suggest that we do not face challenges, but the hon. Gentleman should recognise that the current level of recruitment is 96.9 per cent. of the required level. The drop-out rate in the services is lower than that in many other areas of employment, and certainly much lower than that in industry in civilian life.

Of course we need to do more: we need to do as much as we can on retention. We have packages to cover certain pinch-point trades that we badly need to keep the skills in the armed forces. Our task is challenging, but I think that the pay review body's award and the morale of the armed forces will enable us to maintain recruitment at sustainable levels in the near future.