Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the implementation phase of Defence Reform will conclude.

Having determined top level accountabilities and implemented the associate structural changes to establish the new four Areas on 1 April 2025, Defence Reform is currently in a design phase, during which the new Defence Operating Model is being developed and agreed. From 1 April 2026, Defence Reform moves to the next phase, implementing and refining the operating model in live operation. This implementation phase runs through financial year 2026-27 and includes completing remaining detailed design, informed by early experience of live operation. The aim is to complete implementation and detailed design by 1 April 2027. From that point, responsibility for embedding the Defence Operating Model will sit fully with Defence operating on a business-as-usual basis, with change sustained through normal leadership and governance arrangements, rather than programme mechanisms.