As part of the Strategic Defence Review, the Department has committed to increasing the British Army to at least 76,000 full time soldiers in the next Parliament.

Under this Government, we have driven improvements to recruiting process, stripping out outdated medical policies, reducing the time it takes to receive candidate medical records and widening cross-Government data sharing.

These measures, along with targeted recruiting and a restructure of the Army's recruiting organisation, are delivering results. Year on year the Army's soldier intake numbers are up 13%, officer numbers are up 10%.

Regarding specific measures to increase Army reserve numbers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 June 2025 to Question 57778 to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben-Obese Jecty) which remains extant.

Pay is an important part of a comprehensive benefits package to our Service personnel including subsided food and housing; together, these play a vital role in supporting wider recruitment and retention.

Pay for most frontline public sector workforces, including the Armed Forces, is set through an independent Pay Review Body process. These independent bodies consider a range of evidence when forming their recommendations and then submit reports to the Government, which considers them before announcing final settlements.

The Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body submitted its report to the government on 10 April 2025. The Government will now carefully consider the recommendations before publishing the report and the Government’s response to it, recognising the importance of giving certainty on 2025-26 pay settlements as early as possible.

The new Government inherited a very challenging recruitment and retention position for all Services, and has made improving recruitment and readiness of our Armed Forces an early priority. The Defence Secretary has already made announcements to improve recruitment and further announcements will be made by the Ministry of Defence in due course.

The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet.

The new Government is focused upon improving Armed Forces recruitment, modernising and refining our policies and processes to attract the best possible talent.

Recent policies have included a 35% pay increase for new recruits; one of the largest pay increases in the last 20 years for existing personnel; scrapping over 100 outdated medical policies; a commitment to create a new military direct-entry cyber pathway; and setting an ambition to make a conditional offer of employment to candidates within 10 days, and a provisional training start date within 30 days.

These activities and their impacts will inform the development of the Armed Forces Recruitment Programme which is being implemented to further improve the speed with which highly motivated and capable people can join our Armed Forces.

The Ministry of Defence is currently evaluating what unit and assets are best suited to the task required by the United Nation. This will be finalised in due course, prior to deployment in 2020. Further information can be found in the written statement made by the then Secretary of State for Defence (Penny Mordaunt) on 22 July 2019, (HCWS1779).

The Army has enough people to perform the operational requirements that help keep Britain safe.

Financial incentives for all Armed Forces personnel are scrutinised and reviewed on a continuing basis as part of routine Ministry of Defence governance processes and as part of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB) remit. Outside of the AFPRB, the Army, along with the other Services, retain the delegated authority to introduce short-term financial incentives, designed to either incentivise continued service or entry into certain trades. These incentives are kept under review.

The programme is on schedule to complete the relocation of its major units from Germany in 2019. Since 2010, over 16,000 troops (82% of the 2010 footprint in Germany) have relocated to the UK. This includes the building of 1,500 new military houses and 4,500 single bed spaces.

The projected total savings as a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 and work undertaken in 2011 to reduce the number of Regular Army personnel was £10.6 billion between 2011-12 and 2021-22.

Physical punishment has not been permitted in the Army for many decades, and the use of unofficial punishments and sanctions is banned. Maintaining and improving discipline and behaviour is primarily achieved through education and the promotion of positive values and standards.

Lawful and authorised punishments are contained within the Armed Forces Act, as reviewed by Parliament in 2016, and other minor sanctions in the publications on Administrative Action which were revised this year. Skills training that is relevant to the failing, including appropriate physical training, may be included if the Serviceman's failing warrants it. There are strict rules relating to the award of extra drill lessons which may only be awarded as a sanction to address failings in drill. Periods of physical training may be given as a sanction for soldiers who display a lack of physical effort or attention to their duties, and must be conducted by an appropriately qualified instructor and supervised by a non-commissioned officer.

The average rate of those leaving the Regular Army during recruit training in 2015 was 28%. This figure is for untrained Regular Army personnel only, and therefore excludes Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves.

For information relating to Army Reserve training rates, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Reserves (Mr Brazier) on 8 March 2016 to Question 29128 to the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Ms Thornberry).

As a result of constant reviews conducted by the Army to improve and modernise the delivery of training, opportunities for Army Reservists have never been better.

Initial training for the Army Reserve was restructured last year. This has streamlined progression through the training programme, as Reservists enjoy greater flexibility with how they complete the modules in Phase 1.

Phase 2 sees Reservists receive instruction at the same specialist training schools as their regular counterparts, equipping them with the professional skills required to fully integrate with the Regular Army.

The Army currently offers 22 bespoke overseas training exercises for Reservists, which Reserve units lead with their paired Regular units integrated to improve interoperability and social cohesion. In addition, Reservists routinely train alongside their Regular counterparts from their paired and other units, in complex exercises at home and overseas, using the same equipment.

Social cohesion between Reservists and Regular soldiers is further fostered though the growth of sports, social and Regimental events facilitated by the pairing mechanism, whereby each reserve unit is paired with a Regular Unit.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Reserves (Mr Brazier) on 20 July 2015 to Question number 7353 to the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Kevan Jones).

We remain fully confident the UK is able to fulfil its obligations to NATO as we implement our Future Force 2020 plans. As explained to NATO Allies during recent NATO defence planning discussions, the UK has a realistic and achievable plan to meet our target of a sensible whole force balance and the UK already has an enviable reputation in NATO for addressing the defence planning targets the Alliance gives us.

The proportion of Army officers and soldiers recruited from each country within the United Kingdom for 2013-14 is shown in the following table:

The locations shown reflect the contact addresses recorded and may not be the home address. 'Other' refers to non-UK contact addresses, or those not identifiable.

The armed forces joint personnel administration system provides service personnel with an option to record their nationality. As of 1 October 2013 there were 460 Army personnel and 70 naval service personnel (Royal Navy, the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service and the Royal Marines) who had recorded their nationality as Irish.

These figures have been rounded.

The proportion of Army officers and soldiers recruited from each country within the United Kingdom for 2013-14 is shown in the following table:

The locations shown reflect the contact addresses recorded and may not be the home address. 'Other' refers to non-UK contact addresses, or those not identifiable.

The Army's technical corps include The Royal Engineers, The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, The Royal Corps of Signals and the Royal Logistic Corps. While we are actively recruiting soldiers across the Regular Army and the Reserve, the technical corps remain well subscribed. Further education bursaries continue to offer financial incentives for potential technical corps soldiers to stay on at school or college before joining their chosen trade.

For officers, A-level courses are offered at the Defence Sixth Form College at Welbeck, and the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme offers degrees to students in predominantly science and engineering-based areas. Bursaries and mentorships are available for those studying under the scheme. More information is available at the Army website:

http://www.army.mod.uk

A review of officer recruiting is currently under way, which is likely to lead to a marketing and recruiting campaign later in the year. The forthcoming 'Boots' Army recruiting campaign will also have an officer element. University Officer Training Corps units offer undergraduate members valuable insights into life with the armed forces. The Defence Sixth Form College at Welbeck offers places for applicants who wish to join the Army as officers, predominantly within the technical corps, and who progress to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst via the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme.

For others, a limited number of scholarships are available to Sixth Form students, and bursaries are available to undergraduates. More information on Army Officer careers is available at the Army website:

http://www.army.mod.uk

This information is no longer held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data were collated until 2007, and the information for the most recent full three years held is shown in the following table. The proportion of those in receipt of Army scholarships failing to progress to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst since 2007 is believed to remain at similar levels. The target figure for the awarding of Army scholarships is 100 per year.