Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department provides to military personnel to ensure their health and fitness remains at a high level when they are not deployed in the UK and off-duty.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to the health and wellbeing of our Armed Forces. All Armed Forces Personnel are supported by dedicated medical services including mental health support and Defence Recovery Programmes.

The Defence People Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2022-27 promotes the importance of health and wellbeing across Defence, adopting a holistic approach to mental health, physical health, and social health. It directs a coordinated approach to promote, prevent, detect and treat poor health and wellbeing early to enable optimal recovery. It ensures that all our people will be in a state of positive physical, mental and social health and wellbeing throughout their career.

It is the responsibility of every individual within the Armed Forces to maintain a level of fitness adequate for the demands of their daily task, whether home-based or deployed. Unit commanders ensure that personnel maintain fitness and are responsible for the provision of regular opportunities to take exercise. All Service personnel have access to free gymnasium facilities, accessible both on and off duty, which cater for a range of physical training activities and sports. Gymnasiums on military bases are staffed by professionally qualified Physical Training Instructors. Armed Forces personnel are required to undertake regular fitness tests.