§ Mr. PondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to improve leave entitlements for Service personnel. [113704]
§ Mr. SpellarAs part of our "Policy for People" in the Strategic Defence Review we undertook to introduce a Common Annual Leave Allowance of 30 working days for all Service personnel. This was implemented in April 1999.
Additionally, we announced the introduction in July 1999 of post-operational tour leave, which is a guaranteed period of leave when personnel return from operational detachment.
We are now confident that the recently introduced measures are fully in keeping with the best standards in practice in either the public or private sector. None the less, we keep the position under review.