Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that armed forces personnel are made aware of overseas postings available to them.

Royal Navy Personnel can register their interest or preference on the Joint Personnel Administration system by type of employment (e.g. Local Foreign Service), geographical location (e.g. USA,) or specific job (e.g. Defence Attaché). They can also access 'Royal Navy Jobs' which lists all available posts relevant to their branch, specialisation and rank, and also wider Common Appointment roles. This indicates an approximate estimation of when the post is due to become vacant. However, the selection of personnel for particular overseas postings is delivered through routine career management.

Army personnel can view and consider available opportunities via a vacancy list which is published on the Defence Intranet. In addition, soldiers have access to their Chain of Command (CoC) including their Regiment Career Management Officer (RCMO) who can provide advice on overseas postings and career implications. Officers have access to their CoC including unit Adjutants as well as their Career Managers. Overseas operational opportunities are often advertised through a trawl process where volunteers are sought for vacancies which are advertised on Part 1 Orders via the Regimental Unit Administrative Office.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) utilises different methods to make personnel aware of available overseas posts, depending on whether the post is for Air or Ground personnel. When an overseas Air post needs to be filled, all suitably qualified individuals are contacted by RAF Manning via their CoC and invited to register an interest, from which the post is filled. This method works best as it is focussed on specialised areas (such as Typhoon pilots), rather than a general trawl for personnel. As there are a greater number of Ground personnel, a list of current overseas Ground vacancies is published on the Defence Intranet, which individuals can access and filter by rank to view relevant vacancies.