Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Louise Sandher-Jones and James Cartlidge

Monday 8th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that recruitment to the armed forces must be based solely on merit?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Louise Sandher-Jones)]

We must recruit the absolute best to serve in the armed forces. As the hon. Gentleman will know, an intelligent strategy for recruitment will seek to reach every single community across these British isles. Perpetuating a narrative that women and those from ethnic minorities—many of whom have proven time and again on service that they absolutely deserve to be a part of our armed forces—are recruited because of some woke policy does them a huge disservice.

[James Cartlidge]

I totally agree, but is that not why we should be concerned that the contract for the new armed forces recruitment service

“includes Annual Mandated Performance Indicators focused on enhancing equality and diversity within the workforce”?

Those are to be annually mandated in the contract. My concern is that hardwiring the requirements into the contract risks distorting recruitment if the targets are not hit; we saw that with the RAF. Would it not be better to simply scrap the red tape altogether and focus solely on getting the best people into the armed forces, irrespective of their background?

[Louise Sandher-Jones]

I think the hon. Member has answered his own question. We are talking about indicators, and indicators are very different from targets. An intelligent recruitment strategy seeks to reach out to all communities across these islands, and we need to monitor how well our narratives are succeeding. If we are to have a truly professional strategy, we have to monitor its success in reaching different communities. That is why we refer to an indicator.