§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin)Our armed forces have an enviable reputation throughout the world for their professional delivery of operational military capability in a vast spectrum of roles. These range from war fighting to the complex and often subtle requirements of peace support operations and counter-terrorism; besides turning their hand, as they have done in recent years, to providing support to the civil community assisting with fire-fighting, flood-relief and the foot and mouth outbreak. Most who come across Service personnel acknowledge that they have sound essential military skills and operate within an ethos that differs from that generally found within the sphere of civilian employment. Yet those who join the services are not fundamentally different from the rest of society. What turns a young man or woman into a service person, capable of taking on successfully the variety of challenging roles which our country demands of them, is the training and education undertaken by servicemen and women throughout their careers.
54WSThe Ministry of Defence is one of the largest providers of training and education to the 16 plus age group in the UK. The initial training delivered to new recruits is geared to provide them with the essential skills and knowledge to be capable of operating effectively in often unpredictable, violent, dangerous and stressful environments from the outset of their careers. MOD seeks to develop each individual to his or her maximum potential. Service personnel are given training and education to improve upon their latent ability; some who join may lack basic skills whilst others have graduate qualifications. The scope and scale of the training and education provision is considerable, and spans the whole length of a career in the forces. Not only does this help to recruit and retain people, but, equally importantly, when service personnel return to civilian employment, they take with them skills of value to society.
I am therefore pleased to announce that today I have placed in the Library of the House a Policy Paper, entitled "Individual Training and Education in the Armed Forces". The paper provides information on MOD's wide spectrum of training and education and explains the skills agenda to which this operates. At its core lies the funds mental requirement to prepare servicemen and women to deliver operational capability. It includes insights into the key stages of initial training and the training environment, and highlights the MOD's determination to remain at the forefront of developing skills for the 21st Century.