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Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee Credit: PA
4 December 2018 • 7:39pm
Half of the UK population are now so unhealthy they are unable to pass initial Army selection, the chief of defence staff has said.
Giving evidence to MPs at the Commons Defence Committee, General Sir Nick Carter said Army recruiters are facing “a very difficult market” in recruiting people healthy enough to enlist.
His comments come after the committee was told in October that the Army currently has 77,000 fully trained troops compared with a target of 82,500.
Gen Carter, who took up the post of chief of the defence staff six months ago, told the committee that “50 per cent of 17-35 year olds are not healthy enough to get through the selection process.”
He also admitted that the British Army shares a large part of the blame for its recruitment failings alongside outsourcing giant Capita and that some "appalling lessons" have been learned.
Capita were controversially awarded the contract for Army recruitment in 2012. In October this year, the Ministry of Defence disclosed that Capita managed to bring in fewer than one in 10 of the recruits needed for 2018-19 in the first quarter of the year.
Asked by Conservative former defence minister Mark Francois whether the recruitment and manning shortfalls are entirely the fault of Capita, Gen Carter said they are not.
"From its inception in 2012, there is no doubt that the Army shares a large part of the blame as well, and it has taken a while to get it back on track," Gen Carter told the committee.
"To be clear, Capita's bid when they competed for this contract was ambitious and I think it was overly ambitious and that would be their fault”, he added.
Gen Carter also conceded three or four "big errors" were made from the side of the military in the process, including making the contract too complicated and outsourcing the notion of a recruiting sergeant.
He said: "If someone is making a decision to join the Army, or for that matter the other two services (the RAF and Royal Navy), they need to see a role model in the process at the front door and that was outsourced.
"The second thing that was outsourced, which was definitely a mistake, was the ability to nurture candidates through the process from application to enlistment - and that was something that could not be handled by an anonymous call centre - which was the plan."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...unhealthy-unable-pass-initial-army-selection/
Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee Credit: PA
4 December 2018 • 7:39pm
Half of the UK population are now so unhealthy they are unable to pass initial Army selection, the chief of defence staff has said.
Giving evidence to MPs at the Commons Defence Committee, General Sir Nick Carter said Army recruiters are facing “a very difficult market” in recruiting people healthy enough to enlist.
His comments come after the committee was told in October that the Army currently has 77,000 fully trained troops compared with a target of 82,500.
Gen Carter, who took up the post of chief of the defence staff six months ago, told the committee that “50 per cent of 17-35 year olds are not healthy enough to get through the selection process.”
He also admitted that the British Army shares a large part of the blame for its recruitment failings alongside outsourcing giant Capita and that some "appalling lessons" have been learned.
Capita were controversially awarded the contract for Army recruitment in 2012. In October this year, the Ministry of Defence disclosed that Capita managed to bring in fewer than one in 10 of the recruits needed for 2018-19 in the first quarter of the year.
Asked by Conservative former defence minister Mark Francois whether the recruitment and manning shortfalls are entirely the fault of Capita, Gen Carter said they are not.
"From its inception in 2012, there is no doubt that the Army shares a large part of the blame as well, and it has taken a while to get it back on track," Gen Carter told the committee.
"To be clear, Capita's bid when they competed for this contract was ambitious and I think it was overly ambitious and that would be their fault”, he added.
Gen Carter also conceded three or four "big errors" were made from the side of the military in the process, including making the contract too complicated and outsourcing the notion of a recruiting sergeant.
He said: "If someone is making a decision to join the Army, or for that matter the other two services (the RAF and Royal Navy), they need to see a role model in the process at the front door and that was outsourced.
"The second thing that was outsourced, which was definitely a mistake, was the ability to nurture candidates through the process from application to enlistment - and that was something that could not be handled by an anonymous call centre - which was the plan."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...unhealthy-unable-pass-initial-army-selection/
