Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps she is taking to increase recruitment to the armed forces from rural areas.

The Armed Forces recruit nationally. The geographic footprint of Armed Forces Career Offices across the UK is complemented by dedicated call centres and online recruiting operations, ensuring that members of rural or isolated communities have the same opportunity to join the Armed Forces as anyone else. In addition, the Services conduct outreach engagement programmes across the whole of the UK, delivering events such as career fairs, tactical campaigns and roadshows, supported by web-based information services and social media campaigns.