Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has any plans to reverse the reduction in Army numbers to 73,000 by 2025.

The 2021 Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper made clear that we must focus on capabilities rather than troop numbers. Through Future Soldier, the Army will have a whole force of over 100,000 comprising of 73,000 Regular Service Personnel and 30,100 Army Reserve.

The Army is re-organising and re-equipping to face future threats, however, as the Secretary of State has stated, as the threat changes, we need to change with it. In line with the agile planning and delivery mechanisms developed following the Integrated Review, Defence will continue to review our capabilities and readiness levels accordingly.

Any specific policy changes required for Defence will be determined once the Government's update of the Integrated Review has concluded.