The
MOD has denied claims that ten regiments could be axed because of an on-going
crisis in army recruitment.
An
article in the Daily Telegraph claimed the army is considering axing almost one
fifth of its front line strength because it cannot find enough recruits to
replace soldiers who are leaving.
But
Paul Sykes, a spokesman for the MOD, told Personnel Today there are no
Government plans to cut services manpower.
He
commented, “We are still working towards the Strategic Defence Review policy
manning levels of 108,000. At the moment we are still 7,000 to 8,000 short of
that. We are pressing on with a view to achieving full manning by 2005.
“It
is a challenge – we know that and we are in competition with a lot of other
areas.”
Sykes
said that in 1999 to 2000 there was a net increase in army personnel for the
first time in 15 years.
He
added, “We are trying to maximise recruitment, reduce wastage during training
in terms of the number of people dropping out and improve terms of service so
that army personnel don’t feel the need to leave.”
