MPs brand forces cuts 'grotesque'

25 January 2012 Last updated at 00:02 GMT Some 11,000 military personnel and 25,000 civilian staff are being laid off as part of defence cuts MPs have said it is "grotesque" that 40% of armed forces redundancies have been compulsory, while no civilian staff have been forced out of a job.

The Commons defence committee queried whether the terms on offer to military personnel were "fair or appropriate" given the "shocking" difference.

It also said not enough was being done to retrain, rather than sack, troops.

Defence Minister Philip Hammond said the MPs were wrong and personnel were given "every opportunity" to retrain.

Some 11,000 servicemen and 25,000 civilian Ministry of Defence (MoD) staff are being made redundant as part of government efforts to deal with the £38bn black hole in the defence budget.

But the defence committee has been told that of the 2,860 military personnel laid off last year, about two in five were made compulsorily redundant.

In contrast, the first two phases of civilian redundancies were all done on a voluntary basis.

Explanations criticised

The MoD's senior civil servant, permanent secretary Ursula Brennan, told the MPs the discrepancy was partly because civil servants were more "flexible" while the armed forces tended to have "specific trades".

Defence Minister Andrew Robathan, meanwhile, told the Commons the armed forces had been "less forthcoming" with applications for voluntary redundancy than civilian staff.

The committee said it was "not persuaded" by either of these explanations.

"The argument that civilians are flexibly employable whereas the military are not runs contrary to our experience of the breadth of the military training we have witnessed on operations," it said.

"The MoD should set out what opportunities and encouragement it gives to those in the armed forces who face compulsory redundancy to retrain, especially into 'pinch-point' trades."

James Arbuthnot, defence select committee chair, says the disparity in redundancy cases appears "bizarre"

Chairman James Arbuthnot, Conservative MP, suggested those trades could include combat medical technicians or intelligence gatherers - both of which are currently undermanned.

The MPs continued: "On the other hand the minister's assertion, that many civil servants but insufficient members of the armed forces have applied for redundancy, ignores the question of why that should be so.

"The MoD should consider whether the terms of redundancy offered to either the military or civilian staff are fair or appropriate in the light of the stark and shocking difference between the application of compulsion in redundancy to the two branches of service in the MoD.

"For military redundancies to be compulsory in 40% of cases, yet for civilian redundancies to be compulsory in none, is so grotesque that it requires an exceptionally persuasive reason."

'Hiding behind security'

The committee was also highly critical of the MoD's accounting procedure, saying that for the fifth successive year the department did not comply with Treasury rules on financial reporting.

It also said the MoD was unable to account for more than £5.2bn of spending on equipment, including Bowman radios, thousands of which have reportedly gone missing.

And it accused the MoD of impeding its job of scrutinising spending by "hiding behind security classifications".

Finally, the committee said it was concerned that the level of theft and fraud in the MoD "appear generally to be increasing year on year".

Labour's shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: "There is a thin line between callousness and carelessness and ministers need to start taking responsibility for their decisions.

"Thousands of service personnel are being unceremoniously sacked. It is essential that the painful impact of David Cameron's decisions is minimised wherever possible."

But the defence secretary said: "Every opportunity is being given for military personnel to retrain either for alternative roles in the armed forces or in civilian life, but the simple fact is we have to tackle the massive deficit we inherited from Labour and the huge black hole in the defence budget.

"Criticism from Labour rings equally hollow - they are the cause of the problems we are now resolving."