Between Wednesday 25 August and Thursday 3 September, 93 Ministry of Defence employees attended Piccadilly Gate. This equates to 82 per cent of employees who work primarily from Picadilly Gate. Attendance varies from week to week, and as this data refers to the end of the summer holiday period it may not be reflective of wider attendance rates.

The commitment in paragraph 4.2.5 of the Defence Investment Plan is to reduce Civil Service workforce costs by at least 10% by 2030, while reshaping the workforce around Defence priorities and protecting critical skills. Further detail on the future size and structure of the workforce will be provided in the autumn through the Long-Term Workforce Plan.

The Department remains committed to maximising the operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces and ensuring that Defence personnel are focused on activity that best supports front-line outcomes. As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, Defence is taking forward work to move Regular personnel from administrative activity into front-line roles and to automate at least 20% of Human Resources, Finance and Commercial functions by July 2028.

This commitment is being delivered through the Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan, including the Corporate Services Modernisation programme, which is redesigning and modernising Defence's People, Finance and Commercial services. The programme is simplifying policy and processes, standardising activity, consolidating services where appropriate and introducing modern digital tools to reduce manual work, strengthen access to reliable management information and improve the user experience. This will reduce the back-office burden, improve productivity and release capacity for front-line activity while maintaining effective support to all personnel.

Progress has been made. Detailed process and system design across Military and Civilian HR, Finance and Commercial is well advanced. Completed system design identifies opportunity to incorporate AI in both our user experience layer, processing, and service transactions. Early automation has also delivered practical benefits. The Defence Business Services Automation Garage has reduced the time taken to complete routine activity for military personnel, including through the automation of ID request services, the simplification of applications for deceased persons' military records, and the use of Power Apps to remove manual handling and improve processing times. Source to Contract capability is intended to improve front-line procurement by simplifying and standardising commercial processes, reducing re-keying and manual work, improving supplier and contract data, and giving commercial teams better visibility of procurement pipelines and approvals. This will support faster and more consistent procurement activity across Defence and enable commercial professionals to provide more effective support to front-line delivery.

The Department is now in live procurement for its Transformation and Systems Integration partners and looks forward to starting Phase 3, the transformation and build phase, which will bring these changes into operation. This next phase will support the delivery of the 20% automation ambition through modern cloud technology, improved data, new shared service arrangements, and the standardisation and consolidation of activity across the relevant functions and business areas.

As at 1 April 2025, 2,800 Military (UK Regular Forces) and MOD Civilian Personnel were based in Wales.

Latest statistics on the stationed location of UK regular service and civilian personnel and international global locations as at 1 April 2026 will be published on 9 July 2026 on gov.uk at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/location-of-all-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-annual-statistics-index

In June 2025, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) reintroduced overtime incentives via the Additional Test Allowance (ATA) scheme. Since then, the agency has conducted around 9,000 to 13,000 extra tests each month through overtime, and between June 2025 and April 2026 DVSA delivered 217,294 more tests than in the same period the year before.

In April 2026, 5,985 car practical driving tests were conducted by staff qualified to conduct tests but working in non-driving examiner (DE) roles as part of their normal day job. This equates to ~3% of the total 176,690 car practical driving tests, conducted in April 2026. DVSA is still finalising the car practical driving tests conducted data for May 2026, and this will be available later in June.

As well as overtime incentives, DVSA is making an exceptional payment of £5,000 to DEs and eligible roles (divided into two payments) over 12 months to encourage existing DEs to stay. As of April 2026, there were 1,604 full-time equivalent (FTE) DE available to deliver car practical driving tests. The number of tests an individual DE can conduct in a year can differ for various reasons, however, a full-time DE can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

DVSA has reviewed its DE recruitment and training system to increase capacity. A six-week accelerated DE training pilot is enabling faster qualification without compromising standards. DVSA is also reviewing the trainee‑to‑trainer ratio and increasing the number of permanent trainers to boost test delivery capacity, underpinned by improved end‑to‑end workforce planning.

Between 1 January and 31 May 2026, Ministry of Defence support has delivered 2,686 additional tests in parts of England, including the north east, south west of London, and the south west.

Data regarding permanent Service personnel stationed at British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) can be found below.

Number of UK Regular Armed Forces Service Personnel Stationed at BATUS, Suffield, Canada 2016 - 2025

The Ministry of Defence and Davies Group continue to monitor closely and flex resources in response to surges in the number of NIHL claims. Davies Group staffing levels have increased over the past twelve months, and a further recruitment campaign is underway. The situation is dynamic and under constant review during frequent and regular communications between the Department and Davies Group.

The resourcing of the contract is a matter for the Davies Group. The Ministry of Defence maintains regular engagement with the Davies Group to provide support as required and to discuss resourcing matters.

The resourcing of the contract is a matter for the Davies Group. The Ministry of Defence maintains regular engagement with the Davies Group to provide support as required and to discuss resourcing matters.

The resourcing of the contract is a matter for the Davies Group. The Ministry of Defence maintains regular engagement with the Davies Group to provide support as required and to discuss resourcing matters.

The resourcing of the contract is a matter for the Davies Group. The Ministry of Defence maintains regular engagement with the Davies Group to provide support as required and to discuss resourcing matters.

The resourcing of the contract is a matter for the Davies Group. The Ministry of Defence maintains regular engagement with the Davies Group to provide support as required and to discuss resourcing matters.

As of 25 March 2026, 83 Civil Servants from the UK Defence Exports team had transferred from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence.

The total number of personnel who will transition from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence is 94, and this transition was fully completed on 1st April 2026. This move marked the final step in the transition of full responsibility for the UK Defence Exports team from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence.

As of 25 March 2026, 83 Civil Servants from the UK Defence Exports team had transferred from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence.

The total number of personnel who will transition from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence is 94, and this transition was fully completed on 1st April 2026. This move marked the final step in the transition of full responsibility for the UK Defence Exports team from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence.

The size and set-up of each ministerial private office can vary significantly, as they are often determined by the specific requirements and nature of the workload involved at any given time. This flexibility ensures that each office is best equipped to meet its unique responsibilities and demands.

From the beginning, the Defence Investment Plan has been supported by a flexible cross‑Defence team, with military and civilian personnel allocated at the right level to reflect the complexity of the work and ensure progress to publication. Although they had at least Christmas day off, as is established practice, this work has been continuous.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to publishing an annual SME Action Plan. The MOD's Action Plan is a key element of Defence’s work to improve opportunities for SMEs. Work led by a senior civil servant and civil servants from The Defence Office for Small Business Growth (OSBG), are responsible for developing the Plan and its implementation.

The forthcoming Plan will set out key priorities on procurement policy and strategy, aligned with the Strategic Defence Review and the Defence Industrial Strategy. Our commitment to SMEs is demonstrated by the new £20 million fund offering accelerated contracts to innovative UK startups with little previous MOD engagement, and our target to increase spending with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028.

The OSBG is engaged with SMEs to shape its delivery and ensure it reflects the practical experiences of SMEs seeking to do business with Defence. Once work on the Defence Investment Plan has concluded the plan will be published.

Taken together, these measures will substantially improve the support for SMEs from HMG compared to the situation in July 2024.