MoD Hits Military Readiness Target Two Years Early

UK Ministry of Defence, MoD has exceeded its military readiness target two years ahead of schedule Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram announced today. 
 
The MoD response to the Public Accounts Committee report into military readiness reveals that on average in 2005 75% of forces had met their planned level of readiness without serious or critical weakness. This already exceeds the Public Service Agreement to obtain 73 per cent by 2008. No UK forces are reporting a high risk they could not be made ready within agreed timescales. 
 
Adam Ingram said: 
 
“During 2005 the Armed Forces showed steady improvement in readiness and I am delighted to announce that since the publication of the Public Accounts Committee's report we have exceeded the demanding Public Sector Agreement target made with the treasury – two years early. 
 
“At a time we have a high level of operational commitments it is a credit to our people that we have met this challenging target.” 
 
The Armed Forces were set a target of improving planned readiness without serious or critical weakness by 5 per cent over the 2004 levels by 2008. This reflects the importance of maintaining force elements at high levels of manning, equipment and training, even during a busy operational time. Maintaining this level of readiness in the future will of course depend on the level of operational commitments. 
 
Last June the National Audit Office praised the MoD for the world leading system it has in place to understand the current readiness of the Armed Forces. The NAO noted that the system has the confidence of our military commanders, has proven itself on recent operations and continues to improve.  
 
Background Notes and Information: 
 
1. The NAO's original report is available on the NAO website http://www.nao.org.uk and the PAC report is available on the parliamentary website http://www.publications.parliament.uk. The latest MOD Report against its Public Service Agreement targets is published at http://www.mod.uk. 
 
2. Critical weakness would mean there is a high risk the force element could not be made ready within agreed time scales. Serious weakness means there is a medium risk a force element could not be made ready within these challenging timescales. 
 
3. At the moment none of our forces are assessed to have a high risk that they could not be made ready within the agreed time scales. On average in 2005 only 25 per cent of forces reported a medium risk they could not be made ready within the agreed timescale – thereby exceeding the target of 27 per cent set as part of the 2004 Public Service Agreement. This remaining 25 percent could be made ready for operations but would be more difficult to do so within the tough timescales set. 
 
4. Military forces are held at graduated levels of readiness, derived from Defence Planning Assumptions, with some force elements ready to deploy at short notice with others longer. Determining the required readiness and assessing whether this is achieved is complex. Force elements are deemed ready when the meet the appropriate level of manning, equipment and training and have the required logistic support. 
 
Further information on measuring and Reporting Readiness can be found at page 32 to 33 of the MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2004-05 available at http://www.mod.uk.