Career and Manpower Review (Hansard, 30 March 1994)

§ Mr. Hanley

Further to the answer I gave the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 9 February,Official Report, columns 362–63, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has now invited Mr. Michael Bett to lead the independent team which will be conducting this major independent review of service career and manpower structure and terms and conditions of service. Further appointments to the team will be announced in due course. Terms of reference for the review are as follows: The review is to examine service career and manpower structures, and terms and conditions of service, and recommend changes required to render them appropriate to the needs of the 21st century. The review is to take account of changes in military commitments and deployment patterns, including any which may flow from the defence costs studies. It should draw on work already conducted in each service, and may need to subsume the current in-house review of the armed forces pension scheme. It should examine practices within the armed forces of other nations, and within other major organisations in the United Kingdom. The review should propose future structures which are robust, flexible, efficient and cost-effective, paying particular attention to:

a) Current practice in such areas as length of service, career patterns, deployment patterns, rank structure and trade structures;
b) The relationship between responsibility, rank, trade and pay, and the concept of performance pay; current sources of dissatisfaction; and the scope for a rationalised pay and allowance structure.

The review should seek to contribute to the reduction over the longer term of the overall resource cost of manpower, and should identify clearly the resource implications of its proposals. It should at the same time take full account of the requirement to maintain disciplined, highly trained and well-motivated armed forces, and of the particular requirements of service life. The Review should consult widely within MOD, the Office of Manpower Economics and the services; and should ensure that the Armed Forces Pay Review Body and the Senior Salaries Review Board are consulted on matters within their remit.

The review team will be led by Mr. Bett and will be supported by a small MOD project team. It is to submit its final report to the Secretary of State for Defence within 12 months of its starting work.