Britain needs wars to boost army: Capita chief

[Hasbara Buster]

Britain needs wars to boost army: Capita chief

Britain needs more wars if it wants to have more young people join the armed forces, says head of Capita, a company in charge of recruiting new soldiers to the army.


Army recruitment nearly has collapsed since Capita, the controversial private outsourcing firm, took charge of hiring new recruits from the Ministry of Defence in March, local media reported.

Since then the number of youths who participated in interviews and selection tests to join the army as regular troopers has dropped by 35 percent.

To respond to allegations of failure to try to keep human resource levels intact, Paul Pindar, the Capita chieftain, was summoned by the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to appear before a panel session.

“We have the disadvantage that we actually have no wars on,” Pindar said in a shocking response to the Committee.
“Soldiers like to join the Army when they actually have something to do,” he told the MPs, adding, “You can pull faces at me but actually it is something that is factually true.”

Pindar also blamed the failure of a new IT system developed for the objective of providing easy access to the recruitment process.

Meanwhile, he claimed that the general improved economic situation in Britain had discouraged the people from joining the army.

His comment came as the UK is still suffering from a fragile economic prospect with many jobs both in private and public sectors hit by drastic austerity measures adopted by the coalition government to control the deficit.

British people have become war-weary after years of conflicts and wars imposed by warmongering British politicians on Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa regions as part of the so-called ‘war on terror’ launched by the US government.

Pindar’s explanation and his comments on war were described by Margaret Hodge, chair of the committee, as “awful.”

According to new figures, so far there have been 367 recruitment to the Territorial Army this year, dropping from 1,432 during the same period in 2012.

The hearing came as attempts by Conservative rebel MPs to give Parliament the power to scrutinise plans to replace regular soldiers with reservists failed.
PressTV - Britain needs wars to boost army: Capita chief

 

[flamer84]

Oh,so that's why they're cutting the defence budget every year.

Press TV=great success!

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

Oh,so that's why they're cutting the defence budget every year.

Press TV=great success!

How about News from the Independent then?

'We need more wars': Head of controversial private outsourcing firm blames lack of conflict for spectacular collapse in Army recruitment since it took charge

MPs outraged as Capita’s chief executive says potential new recruits have too little to do


Oliver Wright

Thursday 21 November 2013

3K

The head of a controversial private outsourcing firm accused of presiding over a collapse in Army recruitment has attempted to blame a lack of war for its failure to sign up new soldiers.

The number of people attending army interviews and selection tests to be regular soldiers has fallen by 35 per cent since Capita took charge of hiring new recruits from the Ministry of Defence in March.

But when asked to explain its failure to maintain manpower levels Capita’s chief executive suggested it was partly down to potential new recruits having too little to do.

“We have the disadvantage that we actually have no wars on,” Paul Pindar told the Public Accounts Committee.

“Soldiers like to join the Army when they actually have something to do.” When MPs expressed surprise at the statement he added: “You can pull faces at me but actually it is something that is factually true.”

Mr Pindar said that recruitment had also been hit by the general improved economic situation in Britain and the failures of a new IT system that his company had been told would be up and running when it took over the contract.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the committee, described his comments on war as “awful”.

Her Conservative deputy, Richard Bacon, said he was “doubtful” of Mr Pindar’s explanation and pointed out that millions of soldiers had been recruited in the past without any IT systems at all.

“I think there is a difference from the past when young men and women would go into a recruiting office and speak to someone in uniform who could be considered a role model,” he said afterwards.

“Now they are filling in an anonymous online questionnaire. Go figure.”

Mr Bacon added that he also believed that Mr Pindar was trying to be “diplomatic” and not passing too much blame on to the MoD for problems the company had inherited with the IT systems.

The MoD declined to comment on Mr Pindar’s statement but sources pointed out that 5,000 members of the armed forces are still on active service in Afghanistan.

Mr Pindar had been defending his company against allegations by MPs that recruitment had slumped since Capita was put in charge of advertising, marketing and handling application forms.

MPs read him figures showing that recruitment to the Territorial Army had slumped from 1,432 in 2012 to 367 in the same period this year. The figures for regular army recruitment had fallen from 5,042 to 3,259.

Former Army commanders have warned the shortfall in men would make operations more dangerous. Mr Bacon said one of his constituents had been trying to sign up since May but had become “lost in the system”.

Mr Pindar admitted there had been problems but said his company was confident that over the longer term recruitment targets would be met. “Our expectation is that we will not fail over the long term.

“What we have done in response to the situation is rather than blame other people we will now take responsibility for the IT infrastructure even though it not our responsibility. We are expecting that the recruitment numbers will increase very sharply. We are not sitting back and blaming other people.”

The hearing came as attempts by Tory rebels to give Parliament the power to scrutinise plans to replace regular soldiers with reservists failed.

An amendment tabled by Tory rebel John Baron, that would have delayed plans to expand the reserve force in place of full-time soldiers until it had been approved by MPs and peers, was defeated by 306 votes to 252.

'We need more wars': Head of controversial private outsourcing firm blames lack of conflict for spectacular collapse in Army recruitment since it took charge - UK Politics - UK - The Independent

 

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