§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Ministry of Defence's definition of "recruitment" relates to the enlistment and acceptance of a recruit at a recruitment office, or to the commencement of basic training; and [HL3687]
Whether, upon enlisting and being accepted at a recruitment office, a new recruit can start his or her basic training forthwith. [HL3688]
§ Lord BachRecruitment to the Army occurs when the applicant has passed through the recruiting selection centre process, has been accepted and is allocated a place on a training course. Enlistment occurs when the recruit begins their phase 1 basic training. The Army has an enlistment target figure of around 11,300 for the current financial year and since 1 April more than 1,500 have enlisted.
There is currently a pause on some recruits starting their phase 1 training. Some of those who have successively passed through the recruit selection procedure may be given a date to commence phase 1 training later in the year. This is a short-term measure that has been introduced to help maintain balance in Army manpower numbers, and is likely to continue until October. It does not equate to banning recruitment. There is no ban, freeze or cap on Army recruitment and no one expressing a wish to join the Army is turned away.