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UK armed forces 'below strength' UK armed forces 'below strength'
(about 2 hours later)
The UK's armed forces have been below strength for five years, the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned. The armed forces are understaffed, with rising numbers of personnel quitting early, the government has been warned.
Personnel currently total 180,690 - 5,170 below strength - the National Audit Office says. A National Audit report said personnel was 5,170 below strength, while coping with simultaneous operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.
It says deployments to Afghanistan, the Balkans and Iraq have increased their workload to above the highest level permitted by the Ministry of Defence. The MoD agreed operating at this level meant "additional strains" on staff, but denied forces were overstretched.
The report said this could add further strain to personnel. But ministers have denied the forces are overstretched. Worst hit are medical services, with reservists filling the 66% of vacant A&E and intensive therapy nurses posts.
Defence Minister Derek Twigg admitted the forces faced a "particularly high level of operational commitment" but said steps had been taken to help. Below strength
"We do understand the impact that frequent operational tours have on serving personnel, their friends and families and we have recently announced improvements in pay and benefits for those who are deployed on operations," he said. The National Audit Office warned the armed forces were 2.8% short of full strength - total personnel is now 180,690.
While they have reached 98% of recruitment targets since 2000-2001, there are major shortages in certain trades.
It must exhaust our service men and women and put immense strain on their personal lives Edward LeighPublic accounts committee Teenagers 'too fat for Army'
BBC defence correspondent Rob Watson said the armed forces traditionally operated below strength, but there appeared to be "incredible shortfalls" in some specialist areas.
"Nuclear watchkeepers", the engineers on Trident submarines, are 29% under strength, the RAF's specialist weapons system operators are 50% down and there are severe shortages of army bomb disposal experts.
Navy shortfall
Nursing shortages mean the armed forces have to rely on reservists to plug the gaps, the report found, while Navy crews have been sailing on average 12% below strength.
Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee which examines the work of the NAO, said the report showed the forces lacked the manpower to meet demands on them.
"Given the ferocity of the challenges they face in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, this is intolerable," he said.
"It must exhaust our service men and women and put immense strain on their personal lives."
The report also found that 14.5% of soldiers were being sent on missions more frequently than recommended under Army guidelines.
OVERALL PICTURE Army: 100,010 (1.8% below strength) RAF: 45,210 (4.5% below strength) Navy: 35,470 (3.6% below strength) Source: NAO (July 2006)OVERALL PICTURE Army: 100,010 (1.8% below strength) RAF: 45,210 (4.5% below strength) Navy: 35,470 (3.6% below strength) Source: NAO (July 2006)
"Moreover we will continue to identify measures to address the effects of this period of high operational tempo and are restructuring our forces to spread the load more evenly." Rising numbers were leaving early, 9,200 in the last year had left before their period of engagement was up - some blaming too many deployments and the impact on their families.
Looking at the period of 30 months leading to January this year, the report said 14.5% of Army personnel had been sent on operations more frequently than the service's "harmony guidelines" deemed acceptable. Recruitment was also a problem, the report suggested, due to controversies over Iraq and Deepcut barracks.
This figure rose to 40% in jobs which suffered particular shortages, such as vehicle mechanics and armourers. And two thirds of British teenagers are now considered too fat to join the Army, it found - with just 33% of 16-year-old boys meeting the Body Mass Index target of 28.
In the Royal Navy, some ships have sailed 12% below strength, said the report, which also claimed the numbers leaving the forces early had risen to 9,200 last year. This has recently been raised to 32, because the Ministry of Defence said a heavier man could still be physically fit.
But that had not prevented the forces as a whole meeting 98% of their recruitment targets since 2000-01. Defence Minister Derek Twigg admitted the forces faced a "particularly high level of operational commitment" but said steps had been taken to help.
Adrian Weale, from the British Armed Forces Federation, told BBC Five Live: "All of this sorts of begs the question about the assumptions on which defence funding have been based. 'A lot of pressure'
"And in fact those go back to the late 90s - before we'd had 9/11, before we had Afghanistan, before we have Iraq," he said. He told the BBC Army recruitment was up 10% this year, adding: "The NAO report says we need to do more to retain skilled individuals, and for instance the new £2,240 operational allowance should help to address this.
It must exhaust our service men and women and put immense strain on their personal lives Edward LeighPublic accounts committee "Of course, we're looking at other improvements as well in terms of accommodation, equipment, training, and of course other financial incentives."
"We were never expected to be having to mount these two - what are called medium-scale enduring operations - at the same time. Adrian Weale, from the British Armed Forces Federation, told BBC Five Live defence funding was based on assumptions made in the late 1990s.
He said: "We were never expected to be having to mount these two - what are called medium-scale enduring operations [in Iraq and Afghanistan]- at the same time.
"And that's put a lot of pressure on the armed forces.""And that's put a lot of pressure on the armed forces."
Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Commons public accounts committee which examines the work of the NAO, said: "Given the ferocity of the challenges they face in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, this is intolerable.
"It must exhaust our service men and women and put immense strain on their personal lives.
"It comes as no surprise that in the last two years the number of people leaving has gone up. "The MoD is trying to address this, but it doesn't have a convincing long term strategic approach."