Armed Forces: Recruitment
(asked on 18th December 2023) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent from the public purse on recruitment systems for the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force in each year since 2010.
The IT systems underpinning Defence recruitment are being renewed. The Recruiting IT System (RITS), a joint venture between the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, superseded the Defence Recruiting System (DRS) in 2022. The DRS remains in use by the Army.
Costs, where available, are provided in the tables below. It has not been possible to provide comprehensive data for the period requested due to the disproportionate costs of retrieving some of the older information, and cost data for the current financial year (FY) may include forecasts, rather than actual spend.
Royal Navy:
FY | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
DRS | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | - |
RITS | - | - | - | 0.83 | 3.06 | 2.35 |
Total (millions) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.83 | 4.06 | 2.35 |
Army:
These figures represent high-level DRS costs only, as it has not been possible to analyse those arising from every minor system or policy change.
FY | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Total (millions) | 19.383 | 41.316 | 11.015 | 6.06 | 4.222 | 2.015 | 2.54 | 13.911 | 7.773 | 3.673 | 5.02 |
Royal Air Force:
We are unable to provide historical costs associated with DRS. RITS is expected to cost £42 million for FY 2021-22 to FY 2027-28 inclusive (split 50/50 with the Royal Navy) and expenditure is expected to be £14.5 million by the end of FY 2023-24.