Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 18 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025 what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of increasing the number of active reserves by 20%.

Our Reserve Forces help the UK Armed Forces meet the threats we face at home and overseas, with the scale, skills, agility and connection to society that we need, in a cost-effective way. The diversity of knowledge, skills, experience, and behaviours that Reserves bring from their outside jobs are an invaluable strength.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) presents an exciting opportunity to invest in our Active Reserve, and the Secretary of State for Defence has agreed to all the SDR recommendations.

We anticipate it will become necessary to increase the UK’s Active Reserve forces by at least 20%. We have received the recommendation and are looking at how to undertake this in due course.The Ministry of Defence is not in a position to comment on when exactly that will be, as this will be dictated by a range of internal and external factors.

In the meantime, to restore mass and resilience in a crisis, Defence must make much better use of the resources available by urgently reinvigorating how it engages with the Strategic Reserve and improving recruitment and retention within the Active Reserves.