Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of fitness requirements in the Army.

The Army’s current fitness requirements remain appropriate and are kept under regular review to ensure they continue to align with operational requirements. Data is collected across Army fitness events and reviewed by military staff, scientists and independent experts to inform policy and ensure standards remain evidence-based.

Since 2025, the Army has introduced two new measures to strengthen physical readiness. The Soldier Conditioning Assessment (SCA), introduced in April 2026, identifies areas for improvement for individual soldiers and informs tailored training programmes. The Collective Physical Readiness Evaluation (CPRE) enables Commanders to focus physical training on improving collective readiness against mission requirements.

The Army is also formally reviewing its Role Fitness Tests (Soldier), which assess whether soldiers meet the physical capability requirements for their specific occupation, to ensure they remain fit for purpose.