§ Lord Vivianasked Her Majesty's Government:
What improvements have been brought about in retention and recruitment in Her Majesty's Armed Forces as a result of the "Learning Forces" initiative and the educational opportunities available to those serving. [HL353]
§ Lord BachArmed Forces recruitment and retention is one of the Government's highest priorities and our aim is to maintain excellent levels of retention through policies that genuinely reflect the priorities of our people and their families. The "Learning Forces" initiative is one of a number of initiatives introduced in recent years to improve both the recruitment and retention of Service personnel. "Learning Forces" is an expansion of educational and vocational training opportunities for Service personnel, including accreditation of Service training and civilian qualifications and learning credits. Taken together these have been effective although it is not possible to isolate the contribution made by any one individual measure.
We believe that the initiative has contributed to a steady year-on-year progression in recruitment. In 2000–01 the Armed Forces achieved 90 per cent of the recruiting target and in 2001–02 the figure was 95 per cent. Furthermore, financial year 2002–03 was an excellent recruiting year. The number of new recruits was 26,220, and comfortably exceeded the target.