Private sector could train armed forces

The MoD says defence training needs to be better integrated

The Labour government is to consider joining forces with the private sector to provide training for the UK military.

The news was revealed in a Commons written answer in which Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said that options available to the government included "potential partnerships with the private sector".

Wider options include potential partnerships with the private sector

Adam Ingram

As part of its Defence Training Review recommendations, the Ministry of Defence also announced that it will concentrate naval training in three sites creating an Integrated Maritime Warfare School in the Portsmouth area.

Mr Ingram said the government was considering "rationalisation" of other MoD training on a single site where feasible.

"Wider options include potential partnerships with the private sector and private sector providers are being encouraged to propose innovative solutions," he said in a Commons written reply.

"These might involve establishing training establishments on completely new sites."

The report of the Defence Training Review, published in March, identified the need for defence training to be better integrated and more responsive to successful practices within and outside the MoD.

Benchmark sites

So-called "benchmark" sites will be used to test a range of options.

They are:

RAF Cosford, Shropshire, for aeronautical engineering training

Defence School of Transport at Leconfield, Humberside, for logistic training

Defence Intelligence and Security Centre at Chicksands, Bedfordshire, for security, intelligence, language and photography training

Royal School of Signals at Blandford, Dorset, for communications and information systems training

RAF Halton for joint personnel administration and police training and HMS Sultan for electro-mechanical engineering training

Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, HMS Raleigh in the Plymouth area and HMS Collingwood in Gosport would be used for naval shore training over the next decade

Mr Ingram said: "This will permit the delivery of more cost effective training and improve operational capability.

"It will include the creation of an Integrated Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood, which will deliver all maritime warfare training in a single site."