UK RESERVE FORCES EXTERNAL SCRUTINY TEAM ANNUAL REPORT 2016

The UK Reserve Forces External Scrutiny Team (EST) was established to report on the condition of the reserve forces and delivery of the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) programme.  The report has been compiled by an independent EST, established by the Council of RFCAs.

This is the second statutory report and concentrates on the MOD’s progress towards completing the FR20 programme.

There are 3 principle areas that this report has looked at: Reserves manning, Reserves utility and enabling measures to make the Reserves more effective.  The key findings for these areas are below:

• There has been success in attracting new Reserves especially former Regular Service Personnel.  This has not been without challenges and has exposed many flaws in the recruiting process which need to be addressed.  There is still an issue in attracting quality young officers.  Processes need to be examined to improve manning and recruiting initiatives.

• There remains a lack of understanding of the capability and benefit of integrating Reserves into the Regular Forces in some elements of the Services.  Furthermore a process needs to be implemented to allow Reserves to be made available when needed for routine activity without being constrained by budgetary pressure that are unique to the Reserves.

• Almost all enabling measures set out in the White Paper have been implemented.  In the main they have been or are being delivered effectively although there are a few initiatives which have stalled.  The MOD and the Services are encouraged to continue with the delivery of all enabling measures with the same vigour.

The full report is available to view here.