John Baron MP will call for halt to axing of Regulars during today’s Urgent Question

MP will describe Army recruitment IT systems as a shambles

The House of Commons has been granted an Urgent Question following a leaked MoD document cited in the Times this morning detailing how the MoD’s new IT Army recruiting system does not work, despite having so far cost the taxpayer up to £15.5m. The online recruitment system is almost two years behind schedule, and will not be fully operational until at least April 2015. So extensive are the problems that the Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP, is also apparently considering spending an additional £50m on an entirely new system.

This follows a New Year message sent to soldiers by Major-General Shaun Burley, the Army’s Personnel Policy Chief, warning that there would be 10,000 unfilled positions by the middle of next year.

John will say,

“Efforts to save money by replacing 20,000 Regulars with 30,000 Reservists will cost much more than the Government envisages, leading to false economies and a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

“The tens of millions of pounds wasted so far on IT systems not talking to each other is one example of this. How much more money will it cost taxpayers to put this shambles right?”

“Does this not also confirm that we should now stop any further disbandment of regular units and troops until we know for sure that the plan to replace them with reservists is both cost-effective and feasible?”