Bett Review (Hansard, 20 February 1996)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe)

On 26th June last year, my honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces described the detailed work set in train on Sir Michael Bett's report, in his Written Answer to Sir Michael Marshall in the other place (Official Report, col. 503). Good progress is being made and it remains our intention to complete this work in time to make a definitive announcement in the summer.

In some areas we have already reached conclusions. To meet the first and fundamental recommendation that a Services Personnel Board should be created, a management group chaired by the Chief of the Defence Staff has been established. This group will include an external member with relevant experience. The group is developing a personnel strategy which will help shape future terms and conditions of service. The group has endorsed guidelines to apply to individual areas of personnel policy, which are now being promulgated, and a copy of which is being placed in the Library.

The initial stages of detailed work have concentrated on career and rank structures, the balance between mobility and stability, policies on accompanied and unaccompanied service and related issues. The rank structure must he driven by operational considerations, including the need for continuity of command in the face of casualties. Account also needs to he taken of the increasingly multinational nature of operations and the need therefore for the UK rank structure to fit together with that of other countries. In the light of these considerations, we have decided not to implement the full package of changes proposed. In the case of officers, promotions to five star rank in peacetime will cease and other minor changes will be made: for other Ranks some streamlining is planned. In both cases, the possibility of further changes will he kept under review in the light of the introduction of new arrangements for job evaluation and pay. We agree on the importance of using the minimum number of ranks and layers in non-operational organisations.

We endorse the proposals for a more flexible pay system based on pay ranges, underpinned by Unproved job evaluation arrangements and involving a looser 69WA coupling of rank and pay. This is a particularly complex area and much detailed design work is now required. We have also endorsed in principle the recommendation that a tri-Service agency should he established to manage personnel administration and pay delivery systems.

We are giving detailed consideration to the Independent Review's recommendations on career incentives and pensions. We recognise that any new career structures must give us the hest means to manage recruitment and retention of the right numbers and high quality personnel the Services of the next century will need. In terms of postings and turbulence, each of the Services intends to offer greater predictability in career management and improved family stability for its personnel wherever possible. We shall also he pursuing the recommendations about the need to support greater individual choice in such matters as home ownership and accompanied service.

Further study and development work is continuing. We expect changes introduced as a result of the review to he broadly neutral in cost terms—this is not a savings exercise. At the same time, we will he looking to achieve reductions in the longer-term resource cost of manpower and increased value for money, as Sir Michael envisaged, through better management of our people. Service personnel are being kept informed of developments with this important work.