Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill
16 April 2026
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Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill House of Commons
00:03 - 01:35
Speaker 1
We are now sitting in public, and the proceedings are being broadcast. We are continuing line by line scrutiny of the armed forces bill. We'll begin with a few preliminary reminders. Members know the rules about food and drink. Your hand held notes are if you could email them to hand held or to hand hand a copy to the Hansard colleague in the room.
And do, Bob, if you want to catch my eye. Also, you can remove your jackets if you're if you're warm. I intend to remove mine. We now come to group 25, an amendment seven to clause 31, with which it will be convenient to consider clause 31 stand apart. I'll call Mike Martin.
Thank you, mister Efforts, and it's a pleasure to serve under your chair, chef, and thank you for the invitation to remove my jackets as well. So I I I beg to move, amendment seven tabled in my name alongside, my honorable friend from North Devon. And I would just like to briefly introduce the amendment to the committee. So this amendment, is an amendment to clause 31 and it's an amendment that requires the government to publish an annual report on the impact of provisions related to the transfers between regular and reserve forces on retention in the armed forces. Now, this idea of a zig zag career is incredibly important.
01:36 - 02:20
Speaker 2
We live in an age where, unlike previously where the qualification needed to join the armed forces was the ability to run around a muddy field with a heavy backpack. Now we recognise that we need a much greater range of skills in the Armed Forces. And this ability to move from reserve to regular back to reserve is incredibly important. So we welcome the fact that the government is bringing that forward and I know a number of people when I served, in fact I did it myself, who moved between the regulars and reserves regularly. But there is a question mark as to whether this movement, what effect it has on retention.
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