Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any (a) training, (b) selection and (c) exercises in the Brecon Beacons were cancelled as a result of (i) adverse and (ii) extreme weather conditions in (A) 2017 and (B) 2018; and if he will make a statement.

The authority to cancel or reschedule a recruitment or training event sits at all levels of the Duty Holder Concept. This empowers the Delivery Duty Holder, at the lowest level of the construct, to cancel or reschedule if they are not able to keep risk as low as reasonably practicable. In cases where there is an imperative to run an event, which is unlikely to be the case for recruitment/selection activities, decision making may be escalated to the next levels of the Duty Holder Concept to consider the risk and provide additional senior guidance and/or resources to mitigate any safety shortfalls, or confirm cancellation.

The Delivery Duty Holder may not always be the person directly responsible for an event. As a result there is also a Duty of Care process which ensures that those responsible for the running of an event are still empowered with the authority to stop that activity until it is safe to proceed.

The information on cancellation of events is not held centrally in the format requested. In line with the Duty Holder Concept, events will be adapted (e.g. location or dates changed to mitigate risks) or cancelled.