Answer from Hansard

The Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard)

We inherited a recruitment and retention crisis from the last Government, but since July we have taken decisive measures, slashing the time it takes to access medical records from weeks to hours and restructuring the Army’s recruitment organisation, and it is working. Year on year, inflow is up 20% and outflow is down 8%, the Navy’s yearly recruiting target has been exceeded, Royal Air Force applications are up 34% compared with early 2024, and the Army is seeing a seven-year high in applications.