The number of troops leaving the forces early has continued to increase, with 9,200 personnel leaving prematurely last year. An NAO survey found that 49 per cent of those who recently left the Armed Forces did so because of the impact of service life on their families. A further 28 per cent left because of too many deployments.
Mr Bacon said today: “This proves that
treating our troops properly is not only the right thing to do, it
is also the most cost-effective thing to do. Our troops do a heroic
job and I am very concerned that the MoD appears increasingly unable
to hang on to them”.
“The MoD must provide as much stability and certainty as possible
for service personnel and their families, otherwise an increasing
amount of experience, manpower and money will be lost”.
The report also finds there are ‘pinch points’ in certain specialist
trades. The Armed Forces have only 67 Accident and Emergency nurses
against a requirement for 210. There has been a 25 per cent
shortfall in Army Ammunition Technicians, who are specially trained
to defuse terrorist devices.
Mr Bacon added: “Given that in Iraq alone, 902 UK troops were
admitted to field hospitals and 332 coalition soldiers were killed
by explosive devices so far this year, this situation is completely
unacceptable. These are vital roles that need to be filled and
ministers must address these shortfalls at once”.
3 November 2006
NAO REPORT:
Recruitment and Retention in the Armed Forces
