Conduct of the inquiry
8. We held four evidence sessions during the course
of this inquiry. On 25 March 2008, we took evidence from: Professor
Dandeker of Kings College, London; Professor Strachan of Oxford
University; the Army Families Federation; the RAF Families Federation
and SSAFA FH. On 1 April 2008, we took evidence from SaBRE; the
Institute of Career Guidance; Armor Group; and Control Risk. On
22 April 2008, we took evidence from Chris Baker OBE, Director
General Service Personnel Policy; Air Vice-Marshal Simon Bryant
CBE, Chief of Staff Personnel and Air Secretary; Major General
Andrew Gregory, Deputy Adjutant General and Director General Services
Conditions (Army); Major General Simon Lalor TD, Assistant Chief
of Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets); Rear Admiral Charles Montgomery
CBE, Naval Secretary, Chief of Staff (Personnel); and Vice Admiral
Peter Wilkinson CVO, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel).
On 20 May 2008, we took evidence from Derek Twigg MP Under-Secretary
of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Ministry of Defence
and Vice Admiral Wilkinson.
9. We received written evidence from the MoD; welfare
and support organisations; the Armed Forces Pay Review Body; the
Equality and Human Rights Commission and others.[13]
We are grateful to all those who submitted evidence.
10. We undertook visits to the Armed Forces Recruitment
Centre at St George's Court, Holborn, London to learn more about
the recruitment process, and to the Army Training Regiment Bassingbourn,
Hertfordshire and HMS Raleigh, Plymouth to learn more about initial
training. During these visits we spoke to recruitment officers
from each of the Services, to recruits undergoing initial training,
and to their trainers. We are grateful to all those who assisted
us during our visits, or otherwise helped with our inquiry.
WEB FORUM
11. Alongside the written and oral evidence, we hosted
a web forum on recruitment and retention in the Armed Forces.
The forum ran between 2 April 2008 and 28 May 2008. The web forum
attracted 13,785 views (7,271 views in most popular thread), 184
posts and 226 registrations. We are grateful to all those who
contributed. We have drawn on the experiences shared with us via
the web-forum throughout this inquiry. A summary of the forum
is provided in Annex B to our Report.[14]
12. We welcome the input of Service personnel to
our inquiriesit helps us scrutinise the work of the MoD
more effectively. However, we were concerned that MoD officials
had sought to discourage groups associated with the MoD from publicising
the forum; and some of our respondents felt that they were being
discouraged from sharing their experiences with us. We put our
concerns to the Minister who responded that:
I am, quite frankly, shocked to hear that. I
condemn any such instruction that was taken out and I give you
absolute assurance that, after we finish this session, I will
ask for that to be investigated very promptly
We very much
want to encourage our people to have this contact with you.[15]
13. The use of web fora provide us with an opportunity
to hear the experiences of a wide range of current and former
Service personnel and their families. We value this interaction.
We welcome the Minister's support for our ability to communicate
freely with the Service community. However, this is the second
time we have had concerns that the MoD has attempted to undermine
a web forum that we have hosted. We look to the MoD to demonstrate
its support for our interaction with the Service community by
actively promoting web fora we set up for future inquiries.
1 Defence Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2007-08,
Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2006-07,
HC 61 (hereafter HC (2007-08) 61) Back
2
Defence Committee, Seventh Report of Session 2007-08, Medical
care for the Armed Forces, HC 327 (hereafter HC (2007-08)
327) Back
3
Defence Committee, Fifteenth Report of Session 2006-07, The
work of Defence Estates, HC 535 (hereafter HC (2006-07) 535) Back
4
Defence Committee, Eleventh Report of Session 2005-06, Educating
Service Children, HC 1054 Back
5
Defence Committee, Third Report of Session 2004-05, Duty of
Care, HC 63 (hereafter HC (2004-05) 63) Back
6
Defence Committee, Second Report of Session 2000-01, The Strategic
Defence Review: Policy for People, HC 29 (hereafter HC (2000-01)
29) Back
7
For example, Ministry of Defence, Annual Report and Accounts
2006-07, HC 697 Back
8
For example, Ministry of Defence, UK Armed Forces Quarterly
Manning Report, 1 April 2008 Back
9
National Audit Office, Recruitment and Retention in the Armed
Forces, Session 2005-06, October 2006, HC 1633 (hereafter
NAO HC (2005-06) 1633) Back
10
National Audit Office, Reserve Forces, March 2006, Session
2005-06, HC 964 (hereafter NAO HC (2005-06) 964) Back
11
Public Accounts Committee, Thirty-fourth Report of Session 2006-07,
Recruitment and Retention in the Armed Forces, HC 43 Back
12
RAND Europe, Document Briefing, Motivations and Attitudes of
New Recruits Regarding Remuneration Issues, Focus Group Investigation
and Analysis, 2007 (hereafter RAND Europe, Motivations and
Attitudes of New Recruits Regarding Remuneration Issues, 2007) Back
13
For a list of published written evidence see p 99. Back
14
See p 89. Back
15
Q 333 Back