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Defence in the United Kingdom

I am usually generous and I have been exceptionally generous this afternoon, but I really do want to make progress. As Members know, questions have been raised about the way in which we train and manage our recruits. It is our firm commitment to deliver change in the initial training environment, which more than 17,000 new recruits entered last year. To achieve that, we are focusing effort on improving the provision of support to our recruits and working to ensure that our actions result in sustained change over time. A number of work strands are under way: for example, we are looking at the selection and development of instructors and at the training provided to commanding officers. We have already increased the ratio of trainers to trainees and we are also reviewing how welfare policy is implemented and applied consistently. Those and other initiatives represent major work in progress involving policy, processes and people. We will continue to measure the impact of change over time to ensure that we are effectively achieving that change. In seeking to implement good practice, we are maintaining our links with external bodies such as the adult learning inspectorate, which is undertaking follow-up inspections. Visits to 10 training establishments were planned to take place between last September and March next year. More visits are planned for 2006 and 2007, culminating in a report to be published in 2007.