Reserve Forces: External Scrutiny Team Report 2022-23

Led by Maj Gen (Retd) Simon Lalor, the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations External Scrutiny Team provides an independent assessment on the health of the reserve forces on behalf of the Department. I have today placed in the Library of the House a copy of the 2022 and 2023 reports, along with a copy of the response to these reports. I am most grateful to the team for their work.

The 2023 report rightly mentions the occurrence of a reserve development “pause” as a result of the pace of geopolitical change and the subsequent Government decision to refresh the integrated review (March 2023) and the Defence Command Paper (July 2023). The integrated review was accompanied by an additional £5 billion of spending for Defence over the next two years and a commitment to increase spending to 2.5% of GDP in the long term. While the integrated review rightly addressed the pace of geopolitical change, the Defence Command Paper made a profound statement of intent on how Defence plans to meet present day challenges while modernising for the future; evidenced by a dedicated opening chapter on people. The message is clear,

“our People come first. They are our asset which underpins our strategic advantage”.

The Department’s commitment to prioritising our people is evidenced by the decision to take forward all 67 recommendations from the Haythornthwaite review (June 2023). These will improve armed forces terms and conditions and incentivisation. The work will include improving the inclusion of reserves in strategic workforce plans; working to streamline how service personnel transition between different terms of service throughout their career to better balance the service need with individual priorities for personal and family life; overhauling people management processes through the removal of unnecessary bureaucracy; developing a dedicated career path with a more flexible approach to training as part of a total reward approach and spectrum of service. This will amount to a new, more agile, digitally driven people system that genuinely puts individuals first; the reserves will continue to be fully integrated at every stage of this process.

The 2022 report stated that there was

“a real risk of a decline in the health of the Reserve”.

We are confident that the work being delivered by the Department is evidence of our commitment to arrest any such potential decline by initiating the start of generationally significant transformation programmes for the benefit of the whole force. Critically, reserves have been, and will continue to be, embedded throughout.

The refreshed integrated review, Defence Command Paper, Haythornthwaite review, and the reserve estate optimisation programme will enable a period of substantial transformation for our reserve forces. I am immensely proud of and thankful to our reserve forces and remain committed to removing barriers to service and improving the reserve experience.

[HCWS18]