Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Defence in a Competitive Age Command Paper, paragraph 4.5, published March 2021, how many additional staff have been recruited by his Department to support the Government's target to (a) increase the UK's defence diplomacy network footprint by a third and (b) expand the network of Defence Attaches since March 2021.
The expansion of the network of Defence Attaches will take place over several years through rebalancing Defence assets rather than necessarily recruiting additional staff. The posts which are being created in the global network require experience and knowledge of the military and Government, lending themselves to internal candidates. The network will expand by 58 posts in the next six years, with selections for 18 of those posts planned by March 2022.