Today's defence-related news includes coverage of the military involvement in the Salisbury clean up and on a PAC report into Army recruitment.
Military involvement in Salisbury clean up
Telegraph, Sky, The Sun, Express, Mirror, and ITV have all reported on the military effort to decontaminate the twelve complex sites and look ahead to Defra’s expected announcement of the final decontamination handover today. Comments are carried from Commander Home Command Lt Gen Urch.
Brigadier David Southall, Chief of Staff of Standing Joint Command, said:
The incredibly complex decontamination work carried out by the Armed Forces over the past twelve months, in collaboration with their multi-agency partners, reflects the expertise, courage and selfless commitment of our Servicemen and women in getting the job done and done well.
The handover of the site at Christie Miller Road effectively now concludes the significant military contribution to support Salisbury and Amesbury following the novichok nerve agent attack on 4 March 2018.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on Capita's Army recruitment contract
Telegraph, The Sun, the Express, The Times, and the Daily Mail have all reported the PAC report on Capita's recruitment contract with the Army.
An Army spokesperson said:
We are fully committed to improving our recruiting process. Working with Capita we have put in place a plan to address the challenges.
The Army has developed a range of measures to speed up the recruitment process. This includes new measures to reduce the time between applying and starting training, greater access to military role models for recruits and a new IT system.
The Army meets all its operational commitments to keep Britain safe.
An Army spokesperson said:
The Army continues to meet all its operational commitments to keep Britain safe, with thousands of troops deployed around the world, in 28 different countries.
The ‘workforce requirement’ is not the minimum threshold the Army needs to fulfil its operational requirements, it represents the number of positions in each battalion.
We are fully committed to improving our recruiting process, and working with Capita, we have put in place a plan to address the challenges.
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