Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces recruits have received a conditional offer letter within 10 days from the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force since 1 January 2025.

Following the announcement by the Secretary of State for Defence in September 2024 of the ambition to make a conditional offer of employment to candidates within 10 days, and a provisional training start date within 30 days if they desire it, the Armed Forces have been focused on implementing this initiative into their recruitment pipelines. Significant work to expedite basic eligibility checks has been required to ensure an appropriate level of candidate checks is completed before conditional offers are issued, and they are working to expedite checks. I will make further announcements on progress in due course.