Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26719, what change programmes are underway which are expected to reduce the number of his Department’s civilian employees.

Mark Lancaster

The main change programmes which are in progress and expected to deliver significant civilian workforce reductions are Army re-basing, the US Visiting Forces restructuring, and transformation of Information Systems and Services.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is also considering further programmes which are intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of defence outputs and the support provided to the Armed Forces. These include plans to reduce the overall Defence Estate; provision of Defence Fire and Emergency services; transforming the provision of hard and soft facility management, arrangements for infrastructure policing, options for the delivery of the MOD Guard Service and for the provision of shared corporate services. Each of these further programmes may impact on civilian staff. As I stated in my previous answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26719, the timing and reductions associated with individual programmes are still to be determined.