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Ministry of Defence: Civil Servants

Asked by Ben Obese-JectyConservativeMinistry of DefenceTabled Answered 8 September 2026UIN 23272

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil service posts across the Ministry of Defence are currently being filled by service personnel owing to the civil service recruitment freeze.

Answered by Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defence operates locally led recruitment controls and workforce deployment decision making. This enables business areas to recruit to Civil Service posts where justified by business need, aligned with Departmental priorities and within affordability constraints, as well as to decide how the workforce is deployed, including whether Service Personnel might undertake duties that would otherwise be performed by Civil Servants. However, as outlined in the Strategic Defence Review, we are committed to releasing Service Personnel in back-office functions to front-line roles to maximise the effectiveness of the Whole Force. Given that no central record is maintained of these decisions, the requested information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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