Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q134 of the oral evidence given by his Department's Permanent Secretary to the Defence Committee on 17 March 2026, HC 1779, if he will publish the metrics used for tracking the reduction in civil service workforce costs and the related data from July 2024 onwards.

The Ministry of Defence publishes metrics to report total Civil Service headcount, and changes over time biannually and are available on gov.uk. (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-biannual-civilian-personnel-report-october-2025)

The next edition has a provisional release date of 14 May 2026 and will present MOD Civil Service statistics as at 1 April 2026.

The Defence Reform and Efficiency plan, which will be published alongside the Defensive Investment Plan, will also set out the Department's plans in relation to workforce and wider efficiencies.