Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve retention rates in the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy (RN) continues to meet its operational commitments, but tackling recruitment and retention challenges is a top priority.

As part of a Defence-wide initiative driven at Ministerial level through the recently established Recruitment Retention Board, the RN has established a high-level Retention Steering Group to coordinate all retention activity, analyse outflow data and ensure that quicker action is taken to counter outflow trends. In support, the RN has generated a revised Retention Communications Plan, based on the results from Continuous Assessment Surveys, to demonstrate how it is reacting to workforce feedback.

Areas such as improving earlier years career management for Officers and Ratings are being prioritised to address outflow peaks at three and six years length of service. In parallel, enhancing the lived experience for deployed personnel through improved health and wellbeing support, along with reviewing how our workforce is deployed in support of operational output to provide greater stability and reduce uncertainty, are also key initiatives.