Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department had caring responsibilities in each of the last five years.

The information is not held in the format requested.

The Ministry of Defence recognises the unique challenges faced by people with caring responsibilities. In addition to flexible working arrangements, in 2018 the Department adopted the Civil Service Carer's Passport. This provides staff with the right to discuss and formally agree with their Line Manager a working pattern that considers both working and caring responsibilities. Serving military personnel have the option, where appropriate, to adopt flexible working arrangements, including for caring responsibilities, under the 'Flexible Service' arrangements introduced in January 2019.