Oral Answers to Questions

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Monday 8th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)]

9. What steps he is taking to increase the number of cadets.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)]

15. What recent steps he has taken to help increase the number of cadets.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

19. What steps he is taking to increase the number of cadets.

--- Later in debate ---

[Saqib Bhatti]

I was in the King Edward’s school RAF combined cadet force, and until recently I was on the board of the West Midland Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association. I was pleased to learn of the Government’s lofty ambition to increase cadet sizes, but I was worried by the comments of the Public Accounts Committee, which said recently that there was a distinct lack of “detail and funding” to achieve those numbers. Without the funding and without the detail, these plans and numbers are meaningless, are they not?

[Al Carns]

There are two different issues here. The first one is about expanding the cadet forces by 30% by 2030—there is £70 million behind that, and the plan for how to deliver it is being developed. The second point, on the Public Accounts Committee, is about the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations and is primarily about infrastructure, which we are working on now. That is a legacy issue. We are trying to rejuvenate it and make sure that the accommodation, and indeed the infrastructure, is fit for purpose for the cadets and the reserves as we move forward.