Report warns of UK military shortfall

The UK armed forces do not have enough trained personnel to meet the demands placed on them in Iraq and Afghanistan, an MPs report has warned.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee report found that the overall shortfall in armed forces personnel in April this year stood at 5,850, or 3.2% of full strength.

The report also found that numbers leaving the armed forces early had reached a ten-year peak in some areas.

Shortages were particularly bad in specialist areas, such as vehicle mechanics, armourers and nurses.

The report blamed heavy workloads, frequent overseas deployment and the impact of the job on family life for the shortages.

The report said: "The impact of continuous downsizing, pressures and overstretch is affecting the Department's ability to retain and provide a satisfactory life for armed forces personnel."

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "The MoD has been relying for too long on the goodwill and courageous spirit of our servicemen and women to compensate for the increasing shortages of personnel in all three services.

"The staffing situation has reached the point where there are simply not enough service people to meet levels of military activity planned some years ago - let alone the heightened demands now being placed on them by commitments such as the Iraq and Afghanistan operations."

Commenting on the report, Defence Minister Derek Twigg said: "The government recognises that the current high tempo of operations is putting pressure on our people, but they are responding magnificently and I thank them for that.

"Since this Committee heard evidence last November, the Chief of Defence Staff himself has said that the Armed Forces are very stretched but can sustain what they are currently doing. With the drawdown of troops in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the reductions already made possible in Iraq, some of the pressure should soon start to ease."

The report did support last year's introduction of the £2,240 tax-free allowance of personnel deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia and supported offers of pay rises to encourage the retention of specialist staff.

However, the committee also called for further measures, such as longer notice of upcoming deployments, higher manning levels of the most stretched trades and flexible pay structures, to be introduced.

Commenting on the report, Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "This report has confirmed everything we have been saying.

"Our service men and women continue to operate above the levels this government planned for. This is having a considerable impact on them and their families hitting both retention and recruitment.

"The report also shows that Gordon Brown's funding cuts directly led to cuts in recruitment at a time when we were heavily committed in Iraq."

Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson Nick Harvey said: "Given the intolerable burden faced by our armed forces since the invasion of Iraq, it is no surprise that the number of people leaving early has reached a ten-year high.

"We cannot expect the needs of our armed forces to be adequately met whilst they are faced with overstretch, downsizing and extended tours of duty.

"Concerns over the mental health, physical well-being and family life of personnel will only worsen, especially with many finding themselves exceeding the standard guidelines on periods away from home.

"There is one obvious measure to help ease this problem. The time has come to set a timetable for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq."

(KMcA)