John Healey

John Healey

Labour — Rawmarsh and Conisbrough

Speaking in the House of Commons on 1 June 2026

Debate

Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention

Contribution

The hon. Gentleman is right. Recruitment to our forces has for too long been beset by delays. There is no shortage of young people who want to join the forces, but those delays have led to a large majority of them going off and doing other things. He will have seen that we have changed the regulations, which often restricted recruitment and were barriers to young people joining. He will have seen that we have introduced direct entry for cyber recruitment, and that we are set to put in place a new contract next year for the first ever tri-nation recruitment. That will speed up recruitment and make it more efficient.

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