Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Army spent on (a) recruitment campaigns and (b) other initiatives to help increase the diversity of its workforce in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.

Diversity, inclusion and respect sit at the heart of the Army's values and ethos. The Army aims to recruit and retain a diversity of talent and thought, drawing from all sections of society.

The Army Race Action Plan which was published internally in April 2023 directs a number of actions to bring equity to career progression across all ranks and including personnel from ethnic minority backgrounds.

This includes improving representation at all levels, gaining better access to talent, progressing all talent based only upon merit, improving and professionalising organisational culture and improving lived experience, retention and opportunities.

The Army does not run campaigns designed specifically to increase diversity within the workforce, but diversity and inclusion is an integral part of all recruitment campaigns. The below table shows the overall costs of Army recruitment campaigns for 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The total for FY 2023-24 includes figures up to December 2023.