Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the reduction in civilian headcount in his Department required to meet the efficiency and reform savings announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 for the 2015-16 financial year and in each of the next five such years.

Mark Lancaster

The civilian staff reductions announced as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review will be managed in a number of different ways. In the short term, the Ministry of Defence has agreed to make further savings and adjustments in this current financial year as part of the Government’s commitment to reducing the deficit. This is still on-going and may mean restrictions on recruitment.

Over the longer term, a number of change programmes already under way across the Department are reducing our civilian workforce. These programmes will continue, and individuals are already aware if they are affected. We will also drive forward programmes to consider better ways of delivering services, and explore opportunities to deliver outputs in more efficient or innovative ways.

We are confident these programmes will deliver the required reductions to meet the efficiency and reform savings announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.