Research and analysis

Welfare and duty of care in Armed Forces initial training 2019 to 2020

Updated 23 August 2023

Applies to England

Ministerial foreword

This is the twelfth Ofsted annual report into the welfare and duty of care of trainees as they transit Armed Forces initial training. The report details many areas of positive improvement and I am encouraged to see excellent examples of training establishment staff striving to provide a safe and supportive environment for our recruits and trainees.

The 2019/20 inspection period ran from September 2019 until February 2020, in which a total of 21 inspections were conducted. These included: 9 inspections of Regular training establishments, 6 of Reserve forces units and 6 of University Officer Training Corps (USUs). Seven of the 9 units that were graded received good or outstanding grades. Two establishments received a requires improvement grade. Of those, Defence Fire Training & Development Centre (DFTDC) Manston’s facilities are expected to improve when the establishment is moved to a new facility in Moreton-in-Marsh in 2021.

I am pleased to see that University Royal Naval Units (URNUs) and University Air Squadrons (UASs) were included for the first time within the scope of the inspection programme. This provides valuable feedback on all University Service Units. It is hoped that the continued efforts in the recruitment processes, for both the university cadets and reserves more generally, will start to be seen in earnest over the next inspection cycle.

Whilst some improvements have been seen within the training estate, I acknowledge the challenge that remains from infrastructure in need of investment. The Ministry of Defence will continue to work across a range of areas to improve the management of contracted services which directly support the care and welfare provisions. Ensuring all units are well supported in the development of accurate and critical self-assessments and associated improvement plans will underpin this important strand of work. In turn, this will go some way to ensuring Defence is able to attract and retain personnel of the highest calibre and motivation. There remains scope for improvement in areas such as training establishment infrastructure and particularly facilities contract management.

I would like to thank the Chief Inspector and her team for their continuing support in helping Defence identify the current strengths and areas for improvement in military training. The feedback received is ensuring that our recruits and trainees enjoy the very highest levels of care during their time in initial training. For this external oversight I am most grateful.

Preface

This is Ofsted’s twelfth annual report on the effectiveness of welfare and care arrangements for recruits, trainees and officer cadets in Armed Forces initial training. It is the fourth report I present as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector. I would like to thank the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the training headquarters and the training establishments for their cooperation during the year.

At the request of the MoD, inspectors again broadened the scope of their work. This year, they made their first visits to university Royal Naval units and university air squadrons to inspect welfare and care arrangements for officer cadets. Along with the Army university officer training corps visited last year, these establishments play an important part in allowing young people to experience the benefits that military training can bring to their lives and careers. They also serve an important function in preparing potential officers for the Regular and Reserve Forces. At all 6 university service units visited, inspectors met staff who acted as highly effective role models for the young people in their care. As a result, those young people quickly developed self-confidence, focus and resilience, in addition to gaining a broad knowledge and range of military skills. These benefited them in their studies and prepared them well for their careers, whether in the Armed Forces or in civilian life.

For the sixth year in succession, inspectors visited both Regular and Reserve establishments across each of the Armed Services. As in previous years, inspectors did not grade provision at Reserve units. It has been agreed that they will start to grade these establishments in 2020/21. Inspectors did grade the key judgement areas of leadership and management, the quality of welfare and care arrangements, and outcomes for recruits and trainees in the Regular Forces. In 6 of the 9 Regular establishments visited this year, all 3 key judgement areas were at least good. Two establishments were judged to require improvement in one key judgement area. One establishment, RAF Honington, was re-inspected only for the quality of welfare and care arrangements, which improved from requires improvement to good.

One establishment was judged outstanding for all 3 key judgement areas this year. This was Her Majesty’s Royal Naval Base, Clyde, where Royal Navy submariners receive their specialist training, including for crewing and commanding the national nuclear deterrent force. Leaders and staff at this establishment maintained an impressively well coordinated set of welfare, care and training arrangements. They maintained thoughtful and searching self-assessment and quality-improvement regimes. They communicated clearly their priorities and their very high expectations. These factors ensured that trainees were able to settle into their environment and their courses quickly, and make sustained, secure progress through their highly demanding specialist training. But leaders did not restrict their focus to training quality. They also improved the lived experience for trainees, to make sure that personnel could enjoy their Service and feel at home at Clyde. For example, since the previous inspection, leaders had worked hard to significantly improve the range of on-site leisure activities available to trainees. This is an important development as the base is in an isolated rural location, some miles from local towns and amenities. Staff paid close attention to travel options, so trainees could get to nearby towns for leisure activities and back to base safely. Staff at Clyde were extremely proud of their trainees and their achievements. In return, trainees worked hard, supported one another well and were fiercely proud of their role as submariners. Very few requested early withdrawal from training. These Service staff are being provided with an excellent training for the rigours of their role ahead.

At Number 4 School of Technical Training, Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, at MoD St Athan, and at the Defence School of Policing and Guarding, Southwick Park, outcomes for trainees and recruits and leadership and management were graded outstanding. This was a particularly notable achievement for staff, leaders and trainees at Number 4 School of Technical Training, who were experiencing their first inspection. Senior leaders, training and welfare staff at both establishments worked well together to support trainees to improve their progress and achievements. Senior staff worked with great determination and ingenuity to offset the serious and historical deficiencies in accommodation, infrastructure and estates at these establishments. They made sure that good levels of support and high-quality training kept trainees focused, engaged and forward-looking. At both establishments the quality of welfare and care arrangements was graded good. The lower grades for welfare and care arrangements reflect the weaknesses remaining in infrastructure, estates and accommodation, despite the strong efforts by staff to improve the environment.

At the Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines (Commando Training Wing), the quality of welfare and care arrangements was graded outstanding, and leadership and management, and outcomes for recruits and trainees were good. This represents an improvement on its previous inspection, when all key judgements were graded as good. Inspectors found that staff monitored recruits closely and provided excellent support and care for those under the age of 18. Staff at all levels collaborated well to provide a highly effective network of support for those needing extra help to pass the course or needing welfare support or medical treatment because of injury or sickness. Because of these levels of support, recruits could succeed in this extremely challenging training environment.

Although one Regular establishment was outstanding and 3 had outstanding key judgement grades, a number had declined since their previous inspection. In too many establishments, inspectors identified weaknesses that have been featuring in reports for some years.

As has been the case over the past several years, self-assessment activities continued to be a weak area in the leadership and management of welfare and care. Only in a few outstanding cases did leaders engage in truly searching and self-critical analysis of their arrangements. Similarly, in only a few cases did self-assessment and quality improvement planning link closely. Too often, self-assessment plans for the previous year had links to actions for improvement for the coming or successive years. Often, self-assessment activity was limited in scale or scope, and did not involve enough input from staff or recruits and trainees.

Weaknesses that inspectors identified were often outside the direct control of establishment staff, and related to recruitment, contracting, infrastructure and estate management deficiencies.

In almost all the establishments where grades had declined, and even in some cases where grades had improved, senior and other staff had to spend far too much time offsetting or mitigating the impact of poorly established maintenance contracts, uncertain and unpredictable funding and staffing decisions, and time-consuming recruitment and medical processes. This drew their attention away from their key function, to provide high-quality training and welfare for recruits, trainees and officer cadets. In the most pronounced cases, senior and other staff struggled to maintain adequate training and welfare arrangements in the face of logistical, staffing and infrastructure problems.

I have written about persistent weaknesses in provision for each of the past 4 years. Similar weaknesses have appeared in annual reports over the past 12 years. Colleagues in Defence must act to deal with the recommendations from this report. Failure to do so risks the integrity and quality of training, and the ability of frontline Forces to act effectively.

Background

Ofsted inspects the welfare and care arrangements for recruits, trainees and officer cadets at phase 1 and phase 2 training establishments for Regular and Reserve personnel. During 2018/19, inspectors made a first round of visits to Army University Officer Training Corps (UOTCs) to inspect the standards of welfare and care for officer cadets. This year, inspectors again visited UOTCs, but also made visits to University Royal Naval Units and University Air Squadrons. Collectively, these 3 types of university units are called University Service Units. These were not graded visits.

Phase 1 training provides the general introduction to military life, while phase 2 covers the more technical and professional skills required of members of the Armed Forces for their first professional role. This report reflects the improvements in welfare and care in many Regular Armed Forces establishments and the increased importance of Reserve personnel to each of the 3 Armed Forces. The experiences of officer cadets across University Service Units are evaluated for the first time this year but provision was not graded.

Ofsted’s terms of reference are specified in a memorandum of understanding and between the Secretary of State for Defence and HMCI. This includes a requirement for Ofsted to:

• determine the extent to which progress has been made in addressing issues of care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees during initial training in the Armed Forces, including examining establishments’ self-assessment
• evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic and operational management of the care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees during initial training in the Armed Forces
• take account of the national care standards and safeguarding, where relevant

Inspections and visits carried out

This report draws on evidence from 9 inspections of Regular forces’ training establishments, 6 inspections of Reserve forces’ parent units and 6 inspections of University Service Units. Inspectors made the 21 visits between September 2019 and February 2020.

Of the 9 Regular, single-Service training establishments visited during 2019/20:

• one was an initial training establishment providing phase 1 and phase 2 training for Royal Marines Regular forces (Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Commando Training Wing)
• one was an initial training establishment providing phase 1 and phase 2 training for Royal Marines young officers (Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Command Wing)
• one establishment provided phase 2 training for RAF Regiment gunners (RAF Honington)
• one provided phase 2 training to Royal Naval personnel training as submariners (HMNB Clyde, Faslane)
• one provided phase 2 training to Army personnel (2 Training Regiment, Army Air Corps)

Of the 4 joint Service establishments providing phase 2 training:

• one trained RAF firefighters (Defence Fire Training and Development Centre)
• one trained RAF engineers and technicians (No 4 School of Technical Training, Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, MoD St Athan)
• one provided training for personnel joining the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police (The Defence School of Policing and Guarding)
• one provided courses for intelligence and security trainees (Joint Intelligence Training Group, Chicksands)

The visit to RAF Honington was a re-inspection, following an inspection in October 2018 that resulted in a requires improvement grade for the quality of welfare and care.

This year, inspectors made ungraded visits to 6 Reserve training establishments. Of these:

• 2 establishments were parent units for Army Reserve recruits (6 Rifles, Headquarters and C Company and 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery)
• 2 were parent units for Reservists in the Royal Navy (HMS King Alfred and HMS Scotia)
• 2 were Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons (605 Squadron, RAuxAF and 611 Squadron, RAuxAF)

This year, inspectors visited 6 University Service Units. These were:

• the City of Edinburgh Universities Officer Training Corps
• the North West Officer Training Regiment
• the University of Birmingham Air Squadron
• the Southampton University Air Squadron
• the Southampton University Royal Naval Unit
• the Oxford University Royal Naval Unit

The aim of all University Service Units is to increase understanding of the Armed Forces among civil society and to train the potential future generation of officers for the Regular and Reserve Forces. However, officer cadets are not required to join the Regulars or Reserves after university.

How we carried out our inspections and visits

Each Regular training establishment received no more than 24 hours’ notice of its inspection visit; Reserve training units and University Service Units received around 2 weeks’ notice.

Inspections lasted for 1 or 2 days, according to the size of the establishment and the numbers of recruits, trainees or officer cadets on site or attending courses.

At all establishments, inspections focused on:

• outcomes for recruits, officer cadets or trainees: the impact and effectiveness of arrangements for welfare and duty of care
• the quality of welfare and duty of care arrangements
• the effectiveness of leadership and management in providing systems for welfare and duty of care and making improvements

Inspectors identified strengths and weaknesses, and used the evidence to inform key judgements on:

• the overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care
• outcomes for recruits, officer cadets or trainees
• quality of welfare and duty of care
• the effectiveness of leadership and management

Inspectors used Ofsted’s 4-point judgement scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

Recommendations for improvement

All training establishments

We recommend that all training establishments:

• ensure that unit self-assessment reports accurately identify strengths and weaknesses in welfare, training and accommodation, and that these are closely connected to realistic improvement targets in quality improvement action plans
• ensure that supervisory care directives and commander’s risk assessments adequately reflect the welfare and care needs of all groups of Service personnel within a training establishment.
• improve the passage of information between phases of training across all Services to ensure that recruits and trainees are better aware of their options for specialisation and to reduce the numbers of trainees who leave phase 2 training early
• improve Service personnel’s understanding of the risks they may face from those who hold radical or extreme views; ensure that they know what to do to keep themselves and their colleagues safe from radicalisation and extremism in their training establishments, at home and at work

Regular training

We recommend that all Regular training establishments:

• urgently deal with repeated and longstanding failures in infrastructure, training environments and accommodation, so that leaders and staff can focus fully on the training, welfare and care of recruits and trainees, not on maintenance and repairs
• make sure that, in all establishments across the Services, trainees on holdover and those who are completing remedial training or recovering from illness or injury benefit from varied, purposeful activities that develop their military, technical and personal skills
• monitor closely the work of contractors responsible for repairs to infrastructure and accommodation to ensure that they make repairs promptly and to a good standard, resulting in lasting solutions to maintenance problems
• ensure that catering contractors improve the quality and range of food available to recruits and trainees during evenings and at weekends
• ensure that recruits and trainees have access to enough functioning washing machines and driers in their accommodation blocks to maintain their kit, uniform and personal clothing
• make sure that recruits and trainees at all establishments have good access to reasonable retail and leisure facilities on site during evenings and at weekends
• improve the analysis of data to better understand the reasons why recruits and trainees in some branches, trades and Services leave training and/or the Armed Forces early
• improve pre-joining information for potential recruits and the information available in phase 1 about trade, branch or regimental specialisms available in phase 2

Reserves training

We recommend that all Reserve training establishments:

• provide Defence Train the Trainer version 2 (v2) courses in modules or in other flexible patterns so that Reserve staff with civilian work and domestic commitments may attend more easily
• reduce the time taken to recruit Reserve Service personnel, particularly by making sure that medical assessments are carried out in a timely manner
• make sure that staff, recruits and trainees understand how their feedback on welfare and training matters is used for the unit’s self-evaluation
• monitor more closely the performance of individuals and different groups of recruits and trainees, from initial application through recruitment and training, to identify and close any gaps in performance

University Service Unit training

We recommend that all University Service Units:

• strengthen welfare links with each university so that staff understand how each university welfare chain functions and know whom to contact to help officer cadets who experience difficulties
• collect and analyse data to understand the retention and achievement of different groups of cadets and the impact that training has on their post-university careers in civilian life, or in the Regular and Reserve Forces
• ensure that Reserve training staff can more easily take up places on Defence Train the Trainer v2 courses by running these courses as modules that permit flexible attendance
• ensure that medical assessments for potential officer cadets are completed in a timely manner and that potential officer cadets have a good understanding of the medical criteria they must meet at recruitment

The progress made by Regular establishments since their previous inspections

Establishment name	Outcomes, quality of welfare and care, leadership and management 2019/20	Previous grades
No 4 School of Technical Training, Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, MoD St Athan	1,2,1 (first inspection)
Defence School of Policing and Guarding, Southwick Park	1,2,1	2,1,2
Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, Commando Training Wing	2,1,2	2,2,2
Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, Command Wing	2,2,2	1,2,1
Defence Fire Training and Development Centre, MoD Manston	1,3,2 (first inspection)
HM Naval Base Clyde	1,1,1	2,1,2
2 Training Regiment Army Air Corps	2,3,2	2,2,2
RAF Honington (RI visit)	2 (only graded for quality of welfare and care)	2,3,2
Joint Intelligence Training Group	2,2,2	1,1,1

Reserve establishments and University Service Units receive ungraded inspections currently, so we do not measure progress made in this way.

Summary findings

Outcomes for recruits and trainees – Regular training establishments

Of the 9 Regular establishments visited, we graded 4 as outstanding for outcomes:

• No 4 School of Technical Training, Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, MoD St Athan (No4 SoTT)
• the University Officer Training Corps (UOTCs) DSPG and HMNB Clyde improved their outcomes from good to outstanding at this inspection. This was the first inspection for No4 SoTT and for DFTDC.

All these establishments demonstrated very high pass rates for trainees, extremely strong skills development and progress among trainees, very good or excellent support for trainees from training staff, close and successful support mechanisms for those requiring remedial or other assistance.

Four establishments were graded good for outcomes:

• Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Commando Training Wing (CTCRM; CTW)
• Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Command Wing (CTCRM, CW)
• 2 (Training) Regiment, Army Air Corps (2 (Trg) Regt, AAC)
• Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG)

Of these, CTCRM, CTW and CTCRM, CW were phase 1 establishments.

CTCRM, CTW and 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC maintained good outcomes since their previous inspections. CTCRM, CW and JITG both declined to good from outstanding at their previous inspections.

At these 4 establishments, recruits and trainees made good progress and developed a broad range of skills. They received good levels of support to master skills and knowledge, and staff provided at least good support for those who needed additional coaching or remedial work. Three of these establishments had one or more course areas where pass rates were not high enough over a sustained period, where progress was not rapid, or where recruits or trainees were leaving courses early. At CTCRM, CTW, the proportion of officer cadets leaving courses early was increasing from an already high level. At JITG, one course area had low pass rates, and staff were not able to identify reasons for this.

We did not grade RAF Honington for outcomes (or for effectiveness of leadership and management) during its short requires improvement re-inspection. We only gave a grade for the quality of welfare and care arrangements, which required improvement at the previous inspection and was subsequently graded good. However, inspectors did review outcomes for trainees and the effectiveness of leadership and management. The review of outcomes identified very high levels of early withdrawal by trainees. As a result, the establishment will be subject to a full inspection during the next inspection cycle.

Pass rates

Pass rates were high at most establishments and on most courses. In the establishments that achieved the highest inspection outcomes this year, the vast majority of trainees were successful on their courses at the first attempt.

At No4 SoTT, for example, a high proportion of trainees succeed on their long and academically demanding courses at the first attempt. At DSPG, overall pass rates were very high for trainees from all 3 Services. First-time pass rates for Army and Royal Navy trainees have improved year on year for 3 years, while first-time pass rates for RAF trainees have dipped very slightly since the previous inspection but remain high. For officers’ training at DSPG, first-time pass rates are 100%.

At DFTDC, overall and first-time pass rates have been consistently high for the past 5 years. Wastage rates were extremely low over this period. At HMNB Clyde, overall pass rates have been very high for the past 6 years. Vanguard-class and Astute-class training courses run at around 96% pass rates year on year.

At establishments with good outcomes, trainees’ pass rates were not always high for a sustained period, or there was variation between courses and cohorts. At CTCRM, CTW, for example, the proportion of recruits who passed their training in 2018/19 was at its highest for 5 years, at 62%. Each year, a higher proportion of Royal Marines Band recruits passes, at around 75%. First-time pass rates have gradually increased for all courses, and the number of recruits passing their functional skills English and mathematics qualifications is very high. At 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC, the proportion of trainees who pass their courses has improved across the past 3 years and was high at the time of inspection. A small proportion of trainees do not pass their courses at the first attempt.

At the 2 establishments where grades for outcomes have dropped, pass rates have declined. At CTCRM, CW, for example, too few young officers complete the course. For many years, around 60% of those who started pass training. However, in 2019/20, around 50% of entrants to the current cohort had already left training at the time of inspection. At JITG, pass rates are very high on the majority of courses, and this represents the large majority of trainees. Of trainees who do not pass training at their first attempt, almost all succeed on subsequent attempts. However, on the operator military intelligence class 3 course, pass rates are low and have been in decline for several years. Staff have recently taken action to improve the first-time pass rate and early signs are encouraging.

Early withdrawal from courses

At RAF Honington, only around half the trainee gunners who enter courses complete them. The number of trainees who passed their courses at the first attempt was very low in 2018/19, at 35%. The number of trainees requesting voluntary withdrawal from the RAF Regiment after entering phase 2 training was very high in 2018/19, at 36%. Staff have not managed to track destinations for these trainees so do not know whether they move to a different trade in the RAF or re-enter civilian life.

At No 4 SoTT and at HMNB Clyde, staff provide excellent support for the very small number of trainees who request early withdrawal. At No 4 SoTT, many trainees are supported to move to another trade and continue their RAF careers. At 2 (Trg) Regt AAC, and at CTCRM, CTW, early leavers are similarly well supported. Staff interview all early leavers and provide them with a good range of information and support to make a smooth return to civilian life. Staff also inform local authorities about any leavers who were formerly in care. Leavers are strongly encouraged to remain in the Armed Forces or to re-apply at a later date. As a result, leavers are positive about their military experiences.

Most of the high number of early leavers at CTCRM, CW choose to leave because they feel they have made an error in opting for Service as a Royal Marines officer. Potential young officers are not given sufficient realistic information about the rigours and wide-ranging demands of Royal Marines officer training. Many feel that the potential officer course and the Admiralty interview board stages provided insufficient information about the realities of training.

Developing skills

In all Regular establishments, recruits and trainees who remain in training to the end of their courses develop a rich range of skills that prepare them well for life in their chosen Service, field, branch, trade or regiment.

At No 4 SoTT, for example, trainees are well supported to rapidly improve their mathematical skills and to meet the demands of their highly technical training. They also develop high-level engineering knowledge and complex hand skills suited to their trades. At DSPG, trainees develop key policing and investigative skills. They develop essential interviewing techniques and a very good understanding of major legislation relating to their roles and Services. At CTCRM, CTW, recruits and trainees learn about the occupation of harbours, and develop skills in vertical attack, amphibious warfare and communications technologies. Young officers at CTCRM, CTW develop very strong leadership skills and learn how to lead by example in the most arduous conditions.

At DFTDC, trainees rapidly develop essential specialist firefighting skills, and they become confident in dealing with hazardous situations and in working at height or in confined spaces. Trainee submariners at HMNB Clyde develop high-level technical skills relating to their chosen class of submarine. Alongside the technical and military skills needed for their roles, submariner trainees develop securely the focus, attitudes and disposition to work in the closed environment of a submarine.

At 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC, groundcrew trainees learn how to refuel aircraft safely and under hostile conditions. Communications trainees learn voice procedures and use of Bowman for communications, and they become confident in setting up command posts. At RAF Honington, trainees learn a wide range of military skills, including good gunnery skills, and they become very well equipped for their careers in the regiment. At JITG, trainees develop complex communications, electronics and analytical skills, which they can apply confidently and at pace. Many go on to develop very strong linguistic skills. They learn to work with personnel from other Services and from other nations.

In every setting visited, recruits and trainees developed personal skills that prepared them for their careers in the Armed Forces. Staff supported them very well to rise to challenges during training, to support one another and to recognise the need for close attention to detail.

Confidence, communication skills, decision-making skills and self-reliance are key among the attributes that were demonstrated by those in training. In all establishments, recruits and trainees were rightly proud of their Service, and exceptionally proud of the particular trade, branch, corps or regiment for which they were destined.

Outcomes for recruits and trainees – Reserve training establishments

Reserve recruits and trainees spoke very positively about their Service. At 6 Rifles, Reservists voiced feelings common to their comrades in almost all units. They spoke to inspectors about their enjoyment of training, about the value of working with other like-minded individuals, and about the value they placed on opportunities for further training, deployment and personal development.

Recruitment

In a number of units, potential recruits continue to experience difficulties with the recruitment, medical screening and joining processes. For example, at HMS Scotia, leaders have been very successful at generating an increased number of expressions of interest across the past 2 years. However, around half of those who express interest subsequently fail medical requirements. Many recruits who did join the unit expressed frustration at the length of time it takes from expressing interest to joining and attestation.

In several units, staff work hard to prepare potential recruits for medical tests and other joining requirements. At 605 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), training staff provide a comprehensive induction and joining package. At 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, recruits receive good levels of individualised guidance and support from regiment staff. For example, recruits are guided towards physical training programmes that will help them to meet selection standards.

Remaining in and completing training

Most Reservists who do pass medicals and selection tests remain with their units for a considerable time. For example, at 6 Rifles, and at 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, very few recruits leave once they have passed medicals and security clearances. The majority of those who do leave either join the Regular Army or join another Reserve unit because they have to move from the area. At HMS King Alfred, Reservists remain in their unit for some time. Their training can be completed in a year, but many take between 3 and 5 years to become trained personnel because domestic or civilian work commitments prevent regular attendance. At 611 Squadron RAuxAF, recruits valued the flexibility of training that allowed them to continue with their Service and balance it well against domestic and work commitments.

Reservists in all the units visited this year made good or better progress through training and achieved well in their courses, including external courses at Training Units and other phase 1 or 2 training establishments. At 605 Squadron RAuxAF, recruits make rapid and sustained progress from their starting points. At 6 Rifles, recruits quickly develop the essential skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the training courses they will attend at Army Training Units. Most personnel at HMS Scotia pass their initial training, and failures are rare. At 611 Squadron RAuxAF, staff prepare recruits well for their second module of phase 1 training at RAF Halton; as a result, all succeed. At 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, virtually all of those who join the regiment complete their phase 1 and phase 2 training.

Developing skills

Recruits and trainees develop good military and personal skills during their Reserve training. Staff at 605 Squadron, RAuxAF, provide carefully designed training packages that help trainees to achieve the required standards in their trade areas. Trainees can then test and refine their trade skills by operating in real working environments.

At HMS King Alfred, recruits often bring a wide range of life experiences and skills to the unit. Staff harness these and help recruits to apply what they already know or can do to tasks and exercises during their time with the unit. Reserve ratings and officers at HMS Scotia develop strong military skills, self-confidence, teamworking abilities and physical fitness, in addition to trade, branch and other specific skills. Recruits and trainees at 605 Squadron RAuxAF and at 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery rapidly and securely develop teamworking, trade-specific and leadership skills.

Most Reserve recruits and trainees are eager to work with Regular colleagues and to deploy alongside Regular and Reserve colleagues in overseas deployments. At 6 Rifles, once they have become trained personnel, Reservists have extensive opportunities to participate in operational activities with Regular units.

For example, many current recruits will be able to take part in a United Nations deployment in Cyprus in 2020. Staff at 605 Squadron RAuxAF have far exceeded their target of delivering 2,000 mobilisation and Reserve support days during the past year. Around half of the trained Reservist personnel at HMS King Alfred completed some form of operational activity alongside Regular personal in 2019–20, and some received commendations for the quality of their work.

Safety and staff support

Reservists in all units feel safe in training and benefit from some induction training that relates to personal safety and security, including online.

However, in most units, personnel receive too little refresher or update training to reinforce messages from induction and the early stages of training. Many Reserve recruits and trainees had only a basic understanding of the dangers they might face from those with extremist views. Too few units focus on the security and personal dangers that personnel might face in the areas where they live and work, or in the areas through which they travel to attend units.

All recruits and trainees felt very well treated by staff. They valued the support and guidance they received from unit staff at all levels. They were confident that they were treated fairly and knew how to raise concerns should they need to do so. Staff in many units do not track or monitor the progress of specific groups of recruits and trainees, and they do not know whether some groups perform better than others.

For example, at HMS Scotia, at 611 Squadron RAuxAF and at 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, staff do not collect or analyse in-year or year-by-year data to monitor the numbers of Reservists attending and how well they are progressing. They also lack any data on the relative success of men or women in training, or of recruits and trainees by other protected characteristics such as ethnicity or age.

Outcomes for recruits and trainees – University Service Units

Officer cadets are very positive about their time in University Service Units. Despite the pressures that the officer cadets face from balancing their studies with their time at units, all believe they make significant gains in personal skills and confidence from their Service.

Developing skills

Officer cadets who remained in their unit until their final year recognised the gains they made in the development and exercise of leadership skills. For example, officer cadets at University of Birmingham Air Squadron (UBAS) benefited from an Acting Pilot Officer course that gave them the ability to carry out leadership and deputy roles in squadron training and other activities. Cadets at the Southampton University Air Squadron (SUAS) developed improved resilience and the ability to manage and lead others.

At the University of Oxford Royal Naval Unit (OURNU), and at Southampton University Royal Naval Unit (SURNU), officer cadets spoke very positively about the way they had developed leadership, teamworking, organisational and public-speaking skills during their time at the units. At SURNU, for example, cadets in their final year became senior midshipmen and led activities for those in earlier stages of training.

Officer cadets at City of Edinburgh Officer Training Corps (CEUOTC) and at North West Officer Training Regiment (NWOTR) identified strong gains in self-confidence and in their ability to present information concisely and clearly to others. They valued the increased levels of self-belief and confidence that permeated other areas of their lives and studies.

Almost all officer cadets identified a range of relevant military skills gained from their Service. At UBAS and at SUAS, for example, cadets were able to focus on developing flying skills. Progress can depend on the intensity of their university courses, but most who had ambitions to become RAF pilots were making good progress.

At SURNU and OURNU, officer cadets develop useful maritime skills. Many cadets gained Royal Yachting Association qualifications in navigation and boat handling, and most complete task books relating to seamanship and navigation. Officer cadets consolidate and refine these skills during time spent on board small naval ships at the weekends.

OCdts at CEUOTC benefit from skilled and experienced instructors who help them to develop technical arms and fieldcraft skills. Senior OCdts in NWOTR benefit from a junior officer cadre each September. This provides them with excellent preparation for Regular and Reserve selection boards, as well as improving their career prospects in other fields.

Physical training

Officer cadets are best able to develop and/or maintain fitness and stamina if they have trained staff and physical training areas in, or available to, their unit.

At SUAS, for example, officer cadets benefit from the presence of a ground training instructor who is also a physical training instructor with adventurous training qualifications. The officer cadets also have free access to the gymnasium and fitness suites at MoD Boscombe Down. Cadets at CEUOTC can use substantial outdoor and indoor training areas around the unit, which is co-located with several Regular Army units. Trained instructors develop officer cadets’ fitness and stamina through sports activities in the large gym, in the cardiovascular suite and in the swimming pool adjacent to the unit.

However, at SURNU, officer cadets have no on-site physical training facilities, and no trained staff in this area. Unit staff have organised transport to take cadets to HMS Temeraire in Portsmouth on Wednesday afternoons for training sessions with Royal Navy physical training instructors, but not all cadets can get to these sessions.

Safety and staff support

In all cases, officer cadets felt that they were safe and treated well by staff. Cadets understood the need to maintain personal safety, for example by not wearing uniform to and from drill nights or training weekends.

Officer cadets generally had only a basic understanding of the dangers they might face from extremists, either online or in their universities or in the areas where they live. Though most had some form of ‘Prevent’ induction training, this was not always reinforced in subsequent training.

Staff at University Service Units do not formally track officer cadets’ destinations and progress when they leave their units. This means that staff are unable to assess the usefulness of training in cadets’ careers and lives. Also, staff do not know how many of their former cadets commission into Regular Forces or into the Reserve Forces.

Quality of welfare and duty of care – Regular training establishments

Two of the 9 Regular establishments visited this year were graded outstanding for quality of welfare and care: HMNB Clyde and CTCRM (CTW). At 4 SoTT, the quality of arrangements was graded good at its first inspection. Also graded good were DSPG, CTCRM (CW) and JITG. The quality of welfare and care arrangements at the first inspection of DFTDC required improvement, as did arrangements at 2 (Trg) Regt AAC. Arrangements at RAF Honington had improved to good from its previous requires improvement inspection in 2018.

Staff support

At all the units visited this year, staff were working very hard to provide good or better welfare and care arrangements. Senior staff and those in training teams, welfare staff and civilian support teams work tirelessly to provide good support and care. Recruits and trainees appreciate highly the efforts that staff make to safeguard and support them. They recognise and value the important role occupied by welfare staff outside the chain of command, including padres and civilian staff.

At No 4 SoTT, for example, staff in executive, welfare and training roles worked energetically to provide comprehensive welfare and care for trainees. At DSPG, staff work diligently to make sure that trainees can succeed in training and that they are safe and well supported.

Staff at CTCRM, in CW and CTW, make sure that young officers, recruits and trainees can make progress in their demanding training and that their support needs are monitored closely. Training staff carry out frequent reviews of progress and pay very close attention to the needs of those at risk of not completing.

Trainees at DFTDC are confident that corporals will take any concerns seriously and act in their best interests. Staff work effectively to provide high standards of care and support. At HMNB Clyde, staff in the welfare and training areas have an excellent understanding of trainees’ needs. Divisional and training staff work very closely with welfare and medical staff to ensure a comprehensive network of support for trainees.

At 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC, staff ensure that fast-paced training is combined with strong support networks. Military and civilian staff work together well to support trainees’ technical training and personal support needs. At JITG, trainees recognise the energy their staff put into care, welfare and support arrangements. They speak of staff who routinely go over and above the standards expected to help them succeed in their training.

At RAF Honington, welfare and care arrangements have improved since the previous inspection in 2018. Trainees have no hesitation in approaching staff for support or guidance. Staff monitor the needs of any at-risk trainees very carefully.

In all establishments, when recruits, trainees or young officers need additional support during their training, staff provide this quickly through additional mentoring, coaching or out-of-hours tuition. The vast majority of recruits, trainees and young officers subsequently catch up with their peers and succeed in training.

Staff at all establishments were approachable and supportive in their dealings with those in training. Recruits, trainees and young officers had high levels of respect for their permanent staff and very often regarded them as strong role models. Strong levels of welfare and care support are too often maintained at a cost to the personal time, and the physical energy, of staff. In many establishments, staff were constantly working to, and often beyond, the limits of reasonable capacity. Too often, gapping of posts meant that staff were carrying multiple responsibilities and were struggling to maintain a sensible work–life balance.

Accommodation, infrastructure and training resources

Again, this year, accommodation, infrastructure and training resources in too many establishments were poorly maintained, worn, aged and unreliable.

At No 4 SoTT, the deteriorating infrastructure and the diminishing area at MoD St Athan occupied by the training school have a negative impact on training, on trainees’ and staff morale, and on executive capacity to focus effectively on training and welfare matters. The poor standard of trainees’ accommodation poses a threat to good welfare and care arrangements. The 16-person rooms require constant effort to maintain them in a condition that provides any semblance of personal privacy for trainees. Uncertainty about the future of the site is hampering attempts to recruit and retain civilian staff.

At DSPG, trainees expressed frustration and disappointment that they were so often without hot water in their accommodation blocks. Staff work exceptionally hard to deal with an historical under-investment in facilities and resources, and they are having to deal with frequent and repeated failures of hot water and heating systems.

At 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC, accommodation is old and subject to frequent recurring defects. Toilets and showers are difficult to keep clean and often do not work properly. Staff and trainees find this situation irritating and frustrating. At JITG, accommodation is aged and poorly maintained. Male trainees’ accommodation blocks require major refurbishment. Trainees are consistently critical of and frustrated by the poor quality of facilities and accommodation buildings. Showers and toilets frequently need maintenance and defects recur.

Staff are already working extremely hard in the face of gapped posts and have to spend too much time dealing with the results of poorly conceived maintenance, catering and other contracts.

Contractors often respond too slowly to requests for repairs, or do not respond at all. Staff spend far too much time managing, negotiating and/or chasing contractors to carry out the work required. For example, at JITG, the maintenance contractor appears to make use of contractual conditions that allow for repairs to be put off for long periods. If an engineer visits a block to repair a defect but does not have the correct replacement part, this counts as a completed repair visit. As a result, the repair request window is reset, and the contractor often has another 12 weeks to respond. Meanwhile, the defect persists.

In addition to poor infrastructure and accommodation, recruits, trainees and young officers frequently have to manage with inadequate supplies of white goods, especially washing machines and dryers.

At CTCRM, CTW, and at CTCRM, CW, training is arduous and frequently involves participants getting muddy and wet. Recruits and young officers do not have enough working washing machines and dryers. So, they often have to wash uniform and kit by hand for use the next day because machines are not available. At 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC, washing machines are unreliable and this means that trainees cannot clean their kit and uniform. At JITG, trainees do not have enough working washing machines or dryers to match needs.

In only 2 of the establishments visited this year were accommodation and infrastructure adequate. At RAF Honington, as a result of significant criticism in previous inspection reports, leaders have now made very good progress in securing funds for repairs to heating, water and electrical supplies. Work is underway to improve and repair parts of the station’s very elderly infrastructure. At HMNB Clyde, accommodation is very good and most repairs are carried out promptly.

Catering arrangements

Food and messing arrangements present a similarly depressing picture at most establishments. Generally, food is satisfactory during the working week, but recruits and trainees have to put up with poor-quality food, poor menu choices and sometimes inadequate opening times during evenings and at weekends.

At DSPG, for example, trainees have to put up with a much-reduced catering service at weekends. Food quality is often poor and the choice of items very limited. As a result, many trainees choose to eat unhealthy snack foods in their rooms.

At CTCRM, CTW, food options reduce as mealtimes go on. Those who arrive later in the lunchtime because of training having overrun have little choice of menu. Queues are often too long for trainees and recruits to be able to eat in the time available. As a result, recruits and trainees sometimes miss meals. This makes it very difficult for trainees and recruits to keep up their recommended intake of 4,000 calories per day.

At DFTDC, the range of food options is adequate during the week, but very limited at weekends. Menu choices are not always displayed, and catering staff do not display information about the calorific or nutritional values of meals. As a result, trainees cannot make informed choices about their intake and dietary needs. Trainees’ frustration at the shortage of decent food at weekends is compounded by the isolation of the site. They have to drive or arrange a taxi to get off site to any shops that sell food.

At 2 (Trg) Regt, AAC, trainees have adequate choices of food during the week. However, the mess closes at 6pm, and many trainees report that they are hungry later in the evening. The camp has no retail or food outlets open in the evening. As a result, many trainees go to a shop off site and buy expensive snack items that they eat in their rooms. At weekends, choices are limited and only 2 meals are offered each day.

At JITG, food quality is poor, and the quantity is insufficient. This is especially the case at weekends. Catering contractors do not make sufficient efforts to reply to trainees’ comments or requests in the catering comment book.

Physical training facilities

Gymnasium and physical training facilities are good and sometimes excellent at many establishments. Physical training instructors (PTIs) maintain facilities very effectively. They also make the most of available resources and manage to meet or exceed demand from permanent staff and those in training. PTIs are highly thought of and highly valued by recruits and trainees. The instructors will frequently devise personalised routines for recruits and trainees so that they can maintain fitness and work on areas that need intensive conditioning.

In all establishments, PTIs liaise with rehabilitation staff and support recruits, trainees and young officers to return to training when they have been injured.

At CTCRM, CTW, for example, Hunter Company staff provide excellent rehabilitation support for any injured recruits or trainees. At CTCRM, CW, rehabilitation arrangements for young officers are similarly excellent. As a result, a very high proportion of those who sustain injuries are able to return to training. Facilities to support rehabilitation work are also excellent.

At No 4 SoTT, MoD St Athan, however, the excellent existing facilities are under threat from a notice-to-vacate clause as the site contracts and parcels of land are re-purposed. Contingency plans do not provide for an adequate range of physical training facilities. At CTCRM, the gymnasium floor needs replacing, and this has been the case for some time.

Medical care and rehabilitation

Arrangements to provide medical and dental care for recruits, trainees and young officers are generally excellent. Most establishments have an on-site medical facility or have arrangements to take those needing care to a nearby establishment with a medical centre, or to a local hospital.

Arrangements to manage those in rehabilitation, receiving remedial training or waiting for courses to begin are generally effective. In most cases, staff work hard to reduce the amount of time that recruits, trainees or young officers will be in holdover, or the time they will spend in rehabilitation.

In most cases, individuals on holdover will be given purposeful activities that develop skills and/or allow them to keep up with some elements of training. For example, at DSPG, those in Arnhem platoon follow a bespoke training package managed by the training team. This means they can return to normal training as quickly as possible. At RAF Honington, trainees in Juno Flight spend between 6 and 8 weeks waiting for the start of courses. Staff provide them with a well-balanced programme that maintains fitness and develops knowledge and skills. As a result, most trainees are positive about their time in Juno.

However, at CTCRM, CW, young officers in Thornton Troop do not maintain their command and leadership skills sufficiently while they are undergoing rehabilitation. Also, at DFTDC, trainees who are not in training do not have a well-planned package of activities to keep them purposefully employed and to develop their skills. These trainees are given menial tasks that are of little value and that do not develop their firefighting knowledge and skills.

‘Prevent’ strategies

In general, recruits, trainees and young officers receive insufficient reinforcement of induction training about ‘Prevent’ strategies and the ways these apply to them.

Too often, inspectors encountered recruits and trainees who had only a basic awareness of the dangers that they might face from extremists and those intent on radicalising others.

Quality of welfare and duty of care – Reserve establishments

Reservist recruits and trainees generally receive very good support from units to help them navigate the recruitment and joining processes. At 6 Rifles, staff take time to work with recruits to ensure that they understand the processes involved in joining, as well as the tasks required by the national recruiting centre. Similarly, at HMS King Alfred, staff take time to get to know potential recruits to officer and junior ranks routes. Staff make sure that potential Reservists understand the commitment they are taking on.

At 611 Squadron, RAuxAF, squadron staff gain a close understanding of recruits’ prior levels of attainment, their skills and trade aspirations, and they give recruits a clear understanding of Reserve Service. If the squadron cannot accommodate recruits’ intended trade aims or if recruits wish to change trade, staff provide good support. They put recruits in touch with relevant trade sponsors and help recruits through administrative tasks. At 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, the regimental operations support officer draws on good contacts and knowledge of systems at 160 Brigade, Brecon, to brief recruits fully.

Once attested, Reserve recruits experience good levels of welfare support from staff. At 6 Rifles, for example, those in the chain of command provide a clear, layered care regime for all ranks, including new recruits. Recruits at 605 Squadron, RAuxAF, benefit from the high expectations that senior officers have for the care and welfare of those in training. At HMS King Alfred, staff work hard to understand the particular needs and requirements of Reserve recruits, recognising how these vary from their Regular counterparts.

New ratings and officers at HMS Scotia have a good awareness of the welfare and support services that are designed to meet their needs. Staff instil confidence in recruits that their concerns will be taken seriously and dealt with quickly. Staff at 611 Squadron, RAuxAF, present to recruits a clear and practical account of what Service entails and the forms of support they can expect while serving. Staff administrative officers at 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, provide good support for recruits throughout their training. This includes support and welfare advice outside of training hours.

External training courses

Staff at Reserve units provide good support to Reserve recruits and trainees when they attend external training courses.

At 6 Rifles, for example, the company outreach non-commissioned officer organises and manages travel for recruits and trainees who attend one of the Army Training Units for weekend courses. Recruits and trainees at HMS King Alfred discuss their training plans with staff to make sure that attendance at external courses can fit into their domestic and work commitments. However, when they attend courses at Britannia Royal Naval College or at HMS Raleigh, recruits and trainees must drive themselves to and from the courses, which can mean long hours of driving straight after a demanding weekend.

At HMS Scotia, recruits benefit from a 24-hour hotline that allows them to contact staff when they are travelling to or from training, should they need assistance or support. However, recruits and trainees receive little explanation as to why almost all their training takes place in southern England. These arrangements for training mean that recruits and trainees have to make very long journeys at each side of a weekend if they are to attend any courses.

Reports back to parent units on recruits’ and trainees’ progress from staff running external training courses vary in their timeliness and usefulness. For example, reports back from staff at Army Training Units to the staff at 6 Rifles are prepared and posted into an online database relatively quickly. However, staff at 6 Rifles have no access to this database. They have to request copies of reports that are then sent by post or email, and the response to these requests is not always prompt.

Staff at 605 Squadron, RAuxAF receive reports about recruits who have attended courses at RAF Halton, but the quality of these varies considerably. Feedback is particularly poor in relation to recruits who fail courses or who only just pass. Staff at 611 Squadron, RAuxAF receive good-quality reports about the progress of their trainees attending courses at phase 2 establishments. Reports on the progress of recruits attending phase 1 training from 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery are helpful and sufficiently detailed.

Physical training facilities

Reservists’ access to gymnasia and other physical training resources is generally very good when units are co-located with, or near to, Regular units.

At 605 Squadron, RAuxAF, personnel can use extensive facilities at RAF Cosford. Recruits and trainees also benefit from the squadron’s own physical training instructor. HMS Scotia is located within the large establishment of HMS Caledonia. Recruits and trainees may therefore use the base gymnasium and the extensive range of sports pitches. However, they cannot use the swimming pool at HMS Caledonia because no lifeguard cover is available during drill evenings.

Reserve recruits and trainees at 611 Squadron, RAuxAF, benefit from the unit’s own physical training suites and the presence of a qualified PTI who trains them to use equipment safely. Likewise, at 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, recruits and trainees can use the unit’s own cardiovascular suites and weights. A qualified PTI provides thorough induction in using this equipment.

Kit arrangements

In all but one unit, recruits and trainees were issued with uniform and military kit that fitted them. Nearly always, staff provided kit in good time for use at any training events.

For example, at HMS Scotia, ratings and officers are equipped with appropriate kit and uniform directly from the naval stores at the unit. Kit items were issued in sizes appropriate for build and sex. But, at HMS King Alfred, recruits and trainees did not all receive necessary equipment before they went on initial training courses. They had to ask for basic items of kit, such as boots, on arrival at HMS Raleigh.

Quality of welfare and duty of care – University Service Units

Officer cadets at University Service Units benefit from the high expectations for welfare and care of senior and other staff. Officer cadets feel well supported and generally understand well the welfare or divisional support arrangements at their units.

Officer cadets generally understand how to keep themselves and their peers safe from harm, and they understand the security risks facing all Service personnel. Their understanding of the threats posed by those with radicalised or extremist views requires improvement.

Support and guidance

Few officer cadets have formally requested support at any of the units. However, in the few cases when they had, staff acted appropriately. Generally, matters were resolved quickly and officer cadets were able to remain in training.

Officer cadets are highly confident that staff will take concerns seriously and seek swift solutions to any problems they raise. Cadets were very positive about the care they receive from training and senior staff. They also valued the support and guidance provided by more senior officer cadets.

Staff at units are selected well for their capacity to train officer cadets. Trainers have a good understanding of the students and of their development needs. They are well qualified at all University Service Units. At all the units, trainers are qualified to Defence Train the Trainer standards, and most have also completed the care of trainees package.

Staff work hard to help students settle into the units and become officer cadets. At SUAS, for example, students receive very helpful guidance and information about the unit before they join. Staff attend freshers’ fairs at universities and provide a welcoming introduction to the unit. Students interested in joining SURNU and OURNU also meet existing officer cadets and staff at freshers’ fairs. Staff ensure that students’ questions about the unit are dealt with promptly. Relationships with students’ unions in 2 universities that provide students to CEUOTC are not good. Staff use individual interviews at most units to inform, brief and gather information from potential officer cadets. Training and other staff frequently use the information gathered at this stage to inform training plans for cadets.

Medical assessments for recruitment

Medical assessments provide difficulties for enrolment at a number of units. At CEUOTC and at SURNU, for example, officer cadets had a relatively negative view of the medical assessment process. At the time of inspection, only around half the new cadets at SURNU had booked or attended medical assessment appointments. When potential recruits are rejected on medical grounds, they may appeal. The appeals process is too slow.

At OURNU, many officer cadets have had to wait too long for results of their medicals from the contractor, Capita. Medicals at Army OTCs are reviewed by military staff at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. This appears to provide a slightly clearer and speedier process than the processes in place at URNUs and UASs. Senior staff at CEUOTC are in the process of producing guidance to better inform potential officer cadets about the medical and other entry requirements.

Other arrangements

In all units, attendance is good. Staff monitor attendance closely and will check up on officer cadets who do not attend in case the cadets need assistance or support. In nearly all cases, training accommodation is at least fit for purpose, and often better. At Liverpool OTC and at CEUOTC, leaks in drill hall roofs have existed for 10 and nearly 20 years respectively. Requests for repairs have not resulted in any solutions.

In all cases, officer cadets were given the right kit and uniform for their size and gender.

Impact of leadership and management of welfare and duty of care – Regular, Reserve and University Service Units

Commanding officers and their senior teams continue to demonstrate an ambitious vision for the care and welfare of the Regular and Reserve personnel and the officer cadets in their commands.

In 3 inspections of Regular establishments this year, the leadership and management of welfare and care were outstanding. Leaders at No4 SoTT, MoD St Athan, at DSPG and at HMNB Clyde maintained exceptionally high standards, and communicated these successfully to their teams. As a result, trainees in their care thrived, and training outcomes were also outstanding. In the rest of the Regular establishments, the leadership and management of welfare and care were good, sometimes with outstanding features.

In too many cases at Regular establishments, senior staff spent a significant proportion of their time dealing with crumbling, outdated and poorly funded estates. Far too much management time is devoted to crisis management of infrastructure, when it should be focused on training quality and on improvements to welfare and care arrangements.

At most Reserve units and University Service Units, leadership and management were clearly strong, though these were not graded. Senior staff maintained high standards and communicated these very clearly to staff, who rose enthusiastically to the challenges set by their leaders.

Self-assessment

In all establishments and units, self-assessment reporting lacks focus and specificity. Also, staff fail to make clear connections between self-assessment and quality improvement activity.

Too few self-assessment reports identify clearly all the areas for improvement evident in welfare and care arrangements. Too many self-assessment processes are over complicated and insufficiently analytical. Many reports describe rather than evaluate the quality of provision. Weaker reports often identify key strengths in considerably greater number than key weaknesses. In extreme cases, self-assessment reports read more like promotional literature than searching, self-critical accounts of what does or does not work well in welfare and care.

Too few self-assessment processes and reports are informed by reliable data relating to the progress and performance of cohorts and identifiable groups in training. In too many cases, staff do not gather and analyse information about the ways that flights, troops, divisions or intakes perform relative to one another. In some cases, staff do not gather and analyse information relating to the relative success in training of male and female recruits, trainees or cadets.

Many units make insufficient connection between the areas for improvement identified in their self-assessment report and the actions for improvement set out in quality improvement plans. In many cases where identified weaknesses do lead to actions for improvement, these are not supported by achievable, measurable milestones or interim targets.

In the schools within large Defence colleges that we inspected, self-assessment is controlled at college level. This can lead to weak local self-assessment. For example, senior staff at DSPG, located within the Defence College of Logistics Policing and Administration, are not given leeway to produce a detailed self-assessment at school level that identifies strengths and weaknesses for trainees at Southwick Park. The college self-assessment is insufficiently detailed and serves little purpose.

Supervisory care directives

In most cases, senior staff produce clear and useful supervisory care directives. These usually give staff clear guidance about the expectations for behaviours and for the processes they must follow in welfare and care. During inspections, staff demonstrated their understanding and adherence to these directives.

In Reserve units located within large Regular establishments, we saw several instances where the supervisory care directive of the Regular establishment does not take sufficient account of the needs and attendance patterns of Reserve recruits and trainees.

Staffing

In Reserve units, many Reserve trainers found it difficult to achieve the Defence Train the Trainer v2 qualification. These Reserve trainers find it hard to be absent from their civilian work, and from their unit duties, for the period required to attend the full Defence Train the Trainer v2 course.

Too often in Reserve units and University Service Units, senior and other staff had to work very hard to make up for gaps in staffing. In most cases, there was a lack of clarity from higher command about which posts would eventually be filled.

‘Prevent’

Across all establishments, leaders do not make sure that recruits, trainees and cadets have a good understanding of the dangers they face from those with extremist or radicalised views. Too little is done to reinforce, and re-visit, materials and messages initially delivered during the busy induction training sessions, when recruits, trainees and officer cadets often suffer from information overload.

Summary reports in date order – Regular establishments

No 4 School of Technical Training, Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, MoD St Athan

The Royal Air Force (RAF) No 4 School of Technical Training (No 4 SoTT) is on the MoD St Athan site, 15 miles south west of Cardiff. The school provides training for phase 2 trainees who will be entering one of 3 specialisations for RAF trade group 5 as general technicians: electrical, mechanical or workshop. The school delivers phase 3 specialist equipment courses to trade group 5 personnel and engineers from other military services, the Civil Service and military contractors. Staff also provide phase 3 promotion courses for corporals and sergeants of trade groups 5 and 6, and the general engineering technician course for flight sergeants of trade group 5.

No 4 SoTT is part of the Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering (DSEME), the headquarters of which are at MoD Lyneham. DSEME is part of the Defence College of Technical Training, also at MoD Lyneham. The overarching single-Service command rests with No 22 Group headquarters at Air Command headquarters at RAF High Wycombe.

The Welsh Government has reclaimed around half the estate it had leased to the MoD for the St Athan site. Considerable rationalisation of the estate has therefore taken place in the past 18 months: the MoD no longer controls the former St Athan airfield and many other areas. Much of the former MoD St Athan estate is now a business enterprise park. Consequently, the site occupied by No 4 SoTT is diminishing and there are interim measures in place to continue delivering training there.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The commanding officer and his small executive team have an ambitious vision and high expectations for what trainees can achieve. Trainees make excellent progress from their carefully identified starting points. Staff support them to develop quickly the technical knowledge and skills required for success on the course. As a result, a high proportion of trainees complete their courses at the first attempt. Those that do not complete at the first attempt succeed on the second. Achievement rates for apprenticeships have been outstanding for several years. Staff monitor carefully the progress of trainees from most identifiable groups, including those who were formerly in care. However, monitoring is not always recorded formally.

Trainees benefit from good-quality welfare and care arrangements at No 4 SoTT, although the deteriorating infrastructure at MoD St Athan presents significant challenges for senior staff. The diminishing area occupied by the School, the loss of buildings and facilities, and the steadily advancing fences that separate areas of the station that are no longer under MoD control all have a negative impact on permanent staff and trainees.

Welfare and pastoral support staff work very hard to support trainees. The small welfare team provides exceptionally good support for those who may be experiencing difficulties with their courses, their home life or their mental health. Trainees value highly the work of the care and welfare team, the chief clerk, staff at SSAFA (the Armed Forces charity), the padre, and their instructors.

Training quality is good. However, senior staff have not yet trained enough training supervisors to carry out full evaluations of the quality of teaching and learning across all areas of the course.

In their current form, the gymnasium and fitness facilities are excellent, as is their management. However, these, along with spiritual facilities, will be lost to commercial development in 1 to 2 years’ time. The continuity plan is inadequate because it results in the loss of many of the facilities currently available for trainees and staff. This will have a considerable impact on welfare and morale. Medical and dental facilities are good. Trainees and permanent staff receive consultations and treatment promptly.

The standard of trainees’ accommodation poses a threat to welfare and care arrangements that are otherwise good. The 16-person rooms require constant effort to maintain to an adequate standard. However, senior staff have well-developed plans to use funding already provided from the Welsh Government to build learning pods around trainees’ bed-spaces to enhance privacy and support good study habits. Currently, these funds are held by DSEME, not by staff at No 4 SoTT.

Staff do not identify or evaluate comprehensively all the areas for improvement in welfare and care when they draw together the unit’s self-assessment report. As a result, the quality improvement action plan lists a range of additional areas for improvement, the sources for which staff have not identified in the self-assessment report.

Recommendations

We recommend that No 4 SoTT:

• improves the formal monitoring of the progress of specific groups of trainees, including those formerly in care
• improves the online learning materials that support each course, so that trainees can revise and complete assignments in a wider variety of settings and in ways that suit their learning needs

• secures the release of funds to build the planned learning pods in trainees’ accommodation blocks, which should enhance privacy and help trainees to develop good study habits

• improves the current continuity planning to ensure that the gymnasium, fitness and spiritual facilities will meet the needs of trainees and staff
• identifies and evaluates all areas for improvement so that the annual self-assessment report is comprehensive, ensuring that actions that need to be taken are sufficiently detailed and target dates are specific
• expands the team of well-qualified training supervisors to support the improvement of teaching and learning in all course areas

Defence School of Policing and Guarding

The Defence School of Policing and Guarding is the training centre for the Service police of the British Armed Forces, established at Southwick Park, near Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 2005. It provides training for the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and RAF Police, ensuring consistent standards across the Services. The facilities allow training in most aspects of policing, including specialist crime scene investigation. Hampshire Police and the University of Portsmouth also use these facilities.

Soldiers entering the Royal Military Police are posted to the school having completed phase 1 training at the Army Training Centre, Pirbright. Completion results in promotion to lance corporal and posting to an operational unit as a probationer. RAF Police trainees are posted to the school following phase 1 training at RAF Halton. On completion, they are promoted to acting corporal and posted to an operational unit. Royal Navy and Royal Marines candidates are posted to the school after passing initial training at HMS Raleigh or Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM). When they have completed, they are promoted to the rank of leading hand or corporal and posted to an operational unit.

Officers for the Royal Military Police undertake training on completing commissioning courses at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Officers for the Royal Navy Police are drawn from the rating corps as senior upper yardmen and are commissioned following training at Britannia Royal Naval College or CTCRM. Officers of the RAF Police undertake training on completion of commissioning at RAF College, Cranwell.

The School was to relocate to Worthy Down Barracks, Winchester, in 2025. However, leaders have recently secured agreement that the school will continue at Southwick Park for the medium to long term.

This inspection focused on phase 2 trainees.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Overall pass rates are very high for all trainees. First-time pass rates for officers have been 100% for the past 3 years. First-time pass rates for Army and Royal Navy trainees have improved and are high. The proportion of RAF trainees who pass at their first attempt has declined slightly since the previous inspection but remains high. Instructors make sure that trainees can deal successfully with the fast pace of training. As a result, they rapidly gain the policing and investigative skills they need for their careers. Trainees are proud both of the new skills and knowledge they acquire and of the trade or branch choices they made.

Welfare and training staff ensure that trainees make good progress, are safe, and benefit from a well-integrated support network. Trainees are confident that staff at all levels would take their concerns seriously. They know that staff would provide good support if they encountered difficulties. Welfare arrangements are excellent. Trainees have a very high regard for staff in welfare roles, for those who support them in the Royal Voluntary Service and for the padre. Welfare staff, medical staff and those in the chain of command work together very effectively to provide a close network that ensures trainees’ well-being and safety. Trainees have their own spacious and well-maintained welfare facilities.

Trainees have a basic understanding of the dangers they might face from those with radicalised or extremist views. Despite initial training, however, their recall of key messages was insufficient.

Gymnasium facilities are excellent. These are well maintained and very well run by helpful and approachable physical training staff. Trainees benefit from progressive and thoughtfully scheduled physical training that develops their stamina and resilience. The very small number of trainees on holdover in Arnhem platoon follow a purposeful and dynamic programme that has been designed to get them back into training as quickly as possible.

Too often, the hot water supply in accommodation blocks is very weak or fails altogether. When this happens, trainees have to use the showers in the gymnasium. Staff work hard to seek temporary solutions, but the ageing infrastructure and historical lack of investment mean that water and heating systems fail frequently and repeatedly. This was a key area for improvement at our previous inspection in 2016. Since then, no discernible improvements have been evident in supply or pressure of the hot water.

Senior staff ensure that the school offers a forward-looking environment in which trainees can learn and build skills. After many years’ uncertainty about the establishment’s future, senior leaders have secured its long-term future at Southwick Park. Senior staff have very clear and well-understood arrangements for the welfare and care of personnel in training. Staff get to know the trainees in each new cohort quickly. This means that they can rapidly provide the right levels of support where required.

Following direction from Operational Group Headquarters, school staff no longer produce a detailed self-assessment report that analyses the school’s specific strengths and weaknesses. The Defence College of Logistics Policing and Administration’s higher-level self-assessment statement is not an effective substitute because it does not focus sharply enough on strengths and areas for improvement in the welfare and care matters relating to the school.

Recommendations

We recommend that the Defence School of Policing and Guarding:

• urgently improves the infrastructure, especially the supply of hot water to trainees’ accommodation blocks
• enhances trainees’ understanding of possible threats from those with radical or extremist views and improves their understanding of how to keep themselves safe online
• ensures that the self-assessment report is sufficiently detailed to identify specifically the school’s strengths and weaknesses in welfare and care arrangements

Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Command Wing

Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines (CTCRM) is the principal training centre for the Royal Marines. CTCRM trains all Royal Marine officers, recruits and Reserves in 3 training wings: Commando Training Wing; Command Wing and Specialist Wing. This inspection focused on the initial training of young officers in Command Wing (CW).

One cohort (‘batch’) of around 60 young officers joins CTCRM each year for a training course lasting 15 months. They must pass an eligibility check, a potential officer course and the Admiralty interview board, in addition to the very demanding course. The great majority of recruits join under the direct entry scheme and are aged between 18 and 25. None is under 18. A very small minority of recruits are international entries or late-entry officers. Since 2019, women have been eligible to join the Royal Marines as young officers, but none have done so to date.

During the inspection, 87 young officers were in training. Of these, 57 had started training 5 weeks previously and were on an exercise close to the CTCRM site. The remainder were nearing the end of their training. This batch was on the range qualification course near the Army Training Centre, Pirbright, in Surrey. Inspectors visited both batches.

A batch officer and section instructors provide most of the training, coaching, mentoring and pastoral support. Young officers’ training includes basic military skills, tactical development, advanced physical training, academic study and a deployment to the United States. On passing out, young officers join operational units or deploy to an operational theatre.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Senior commanders have ensured that training and welfare staff maintain a very strong focus on welfare and care. These remain integral to all aspects of young officers’ training. Young officers and senior command teams are committed to continuous improvement of all aspects of training. They are aware of what is working well and what can be improved further. Their actions for improvement, including enhancing the use of data, the commandant’s risk assessment and supervisory care directive, are well considered.

Senior leaders in CW ensure that instructors are committed and effective. Most instructors arrive fully trained or complete the Defence Train the Trainer v2 course soon afterwards. Young officers regard their training staff as excellent instructors and role models.

Batch staff provide young officers with effective training, information, advice and guidance and help them succeed. Young officers who remain in training are very positive about their experience. Most are content to raise personal or professional concerns directly with their chain of command. Highly experienced pastoral staff in the busy chaplaincy provide young officers with much-valued guidance.

Senior leaders have paid very close attention to effective risk assessment of, and planning for, challenging training activities. They ensure that young officers receive prompt medical support or treatment if needed.

Young officers who complete their course are well trained, competent and highly motivated. They develop very good military and personal skills and a strong team ethic. They demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour, appearance and conduct and know how to lead by example.

Young officers value the remedial support provided by training staff. These staff apply disciplinary procedures consistently, proportionately and fairly.

Experienced, well-trained physical training instructors provide excellent progressive physical training sessions. The swimming pool is good, but the gymnasium floor is worn and needs replacing.

Rehabilitation staff are highly skilled and effective. Most young officers recover quickly from injury. The great majority of those injured re-join training with their peers. The small number of those with longer-term injuries are placed in Thornton Troop. These young officers are not sufficiently occupied, and their leadership and command skills are not developed during their time in Thornton Troop.

Young officers have access to very good medical and dental services and often receive same-day medical or dental attention. Medical staff provide good levels of support to trainers and young officers to mitigate the impact of intense physical training.

Facilities in the officers’ mess are adequate but young officers have little time to use them. Accommodation in the mess is functional and clean. Maintenance problems are usually resolved quickly. However, young officers do not have access to enough functioning laundry facilities.

Young officers have good opportunities to stay in contact with friends and family. They receive useful training in internet safety and the safe use of social media. A small minority of them are not clear about recognising and avoiding the dangers of extremism and radicalisation.

The average pass-out rate is low, at around 60% for many years. The drop-out rate for the most recent cohort was higher than for previous courses. It is expected that only around 50% of the current cohort will complete the course. Many current young officers say that their colleagues left training early because potential young officers are not selected and prepared well enough for the realities of officer training in the Royal Marines.

The large majority of early leavers elect for voluntary withdrawal. The number who have been medically discharged is low and the discharge process is quick and efficient. Only a small minority of early leavers transfer to a different branch of the Royal Navy or Armed Services.

Recommendations

We recommend that CTCRM CW:

• increases the proportion of young officers who complete the course and reduces wastage by ensuring that potential young officers are well prepared and more carefully selected for their training as Royal Marines officers
• ensures that the young officers in Thornton Troop have opportunities to develop their leadership and command skills, for example through studying for units of leadership and management qualifications
• improves access to functioning and reasonably priced laundry facilities
• replaces the worn gymnasium floor

Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, Commando Training Wing

Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM) Commando Training Wing (CTW) is the training centre for all Royal Marines Regular and Reserve recruits. The site, in Lympstone, Devon, has been the home of Royal Marines’ training since 1960. Royal Marines officers also complete training at CTCRM in Command Wing. Specialist Wing provides phase 3 training.

Potential Royal Marines candidates must pass a rigorous selection assessment, including a 3-day Potential Royal Marines Course held at CTCRM. Since 2019, women have been eligible to join the Royal Marines.

Royal Marines recruits have 32 weeks of initial training at CTCRM. Phase 1 takes place during weeks 1 to 15, and phase 2 in weeks 16 to 32. Recruits are aged between 16 and 33. Recruits who pass the 32-week commando course pass out as commandos, with the green beret. They then spend time as a general duties marine, either with a commando unit or on board a Royal Navy warship, before moving to specialist training.

Recruits into the Royal Marines Band also complete 15 weeks of phase 1 initial training at CTW, before progressing to musician training at the Royal Marines School of Music in Portsmouth.

Around 50 recruits join CTW every 2 weeks. They spend 2 weeks in the foundation unit being inducted, before moving into troop training. Each troop has a commander, sergeant and a team of corporals who deliver most of the training. Hunter Company provides remedial training for recruits who need help to reach the required standard, as well as rehabilitation for recruits who have been injured. Just over half of recruits will spend time in Hunter Company.

During the inspection, 620 Royal Marines recruits and 25 Royal Marines Band recruits were on site. Of these recruits, 11 were women, one of whom was a Royal Marines recruit and the rest were Royal Marines Band. Around 10% of recruits were under 18 and 3% were from a minority ethnic group.

This inspection focused on the welfare and duty of care in recruit training in CTW, including for Royal Marines Band recruits. A parallel inspection of initial Royal Marines officer training took place at the same time.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Outcomes for recruits remain good, as at the previous inspection in 2012. Overall pass rates have improved but are not high for Royal Marines recruits. In 2018, these were at the highest level for 5 years at 62%. Royal Marines Band recruits have a higher pass rate, of 75%. Wastage rates are still high, although they are declining. Recruits develop resilience, confidence and important maritime infantry skills during their phase 1 and phase 2 training. Recruits who fail important assessments and exercises are placed in Hunter Company for additional coaching and support. Most of them return to mainstream training because the support they receive is very good. Most recruits who sustain injuries do so to their lower limbs. Most recruits who leave early choose to do so.

CTW command introduced a new recruit syllabus in April 2019 to reduce injury and wastage rates for Royal Marines recruits, although it is too early to assess its impact. Staff do not identify the English and mathematics skills of recruits who enter with GCSE grades A* to C or Grade 4 to 9 in these subjects, and therefore they do not know what additional help they may need. Functional skills lessons in English and mathematics have been moved to post-phase 2 training. As a result, recruits may not receive the help they need early enough in their training to be successful in some of the exercises and assessments. Currently, no local staff are trained to carry out special needs assessments for those who need them, resulting in unnecessary travel for these recruits.

Royal Marines recruits receive useful information and guidance before joining, including during the Potential Royal Marines Course, which helps them prepare well for phase 1. In contrast, Royal Marines Band recruits are poorly informed before initial training starts and they do not feel prepared for the rigours of phase 1.

The quality of welfare and care for recruits has improved further and is now outstanding. Staff at CTW monitor all recruits closely and care well for recruits under 18. Staff provide a highly effective network of support for those who need extra help to pass the course or need welfare support or medical treatment. They collaborate very closely to provide the best care possible and ensure that recruits are treated well and fairly. Staff keep detailed records and share information appropriately. Senior staff manage staffing gaps well. However, increasing numbers of recruits this year are likely to place strain on these arrangements.

Accommodation for all recruits, including the small number of female recruits, is fit for purpose, although laundry facilities are insufficient for the numbers of recruits and staff who need to use them. Senior staff have dealt successfully with the poor accommodation for Hunter Company recruits that was identified at the previous inspection, and new accommodation blocks are currently being built for them.

The effectiveness of leadership and management of welfare and care remains good. The senior command team has dealt with most of the recommendations from the previous inspection and is currently developing processes to improve the welfare and care of trainees further.

Senior staff make sure that staff are appropriately trained before they work with recruits. Troop staff act as good role models. The coaching and mentoring advisory team builds excellent relationships with instructors during the Defence Train the Trainer v2 course, which they deliver. Both instructors and recruits receive excellent support from this team.

The command’s continuous improvement tools are basic. The self-assessment report, supervisory care directive and commandant’s risk assessment lack evaluation and do not provide sufficiently clear guidance for staff.

The at-risk register and the equality, diversity and inclusion logs are under-developed and lack detail.

Recommendations

We recommend that CTCRM, CTW:

• evaluates the impact of the new training syllabus and the new pre-joining course on pass rates and injury rates
• improves the management and monitoring of the at-risk register and the recording of matters related to equality, diversity and inclusion, and complaints; ensures that the commandant’s risk assessment and the supervisory care directive include more detailed information from these sources
• carries out diagnostic English and mathematics assessments for all recruits and speed up the training of staff who can carry out special learning needs assessments locally at CTCRM
• improves the pre-joining information for Royal Marines Band recruits so that they know what to expect from their 15-week training at CTW
• improves laundry facilities so that recruits do not need to queue for so long

HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane

HM Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde, north west of Glasgow at Faslane, is home to the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent and the headquarters of the Royal Navy in Scotland. Two phase 2 training courses for submariners run in HMNB Clyde for Vanguard and Astute class submarines. Submariner training at HMNB Clyde was previously inspected in 2013.

At the time of the inspection, 45 trainees were in training and all but 3 were over 18.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Leaders at HMNB Clyde have worked relentlessly to provide high levels of care for the phase 2 submariners at the base. They have ensured that the quality of the lived experience on the base is of a high standard and that they respond rapidly to trainees’ concerns. Since the previous inspection, leaders have improved the range of leisure activities and travel options, so trainees can get to nearby towns for leisure activities and to travel home.

Trainees benefit from a high standard of well-maintained accommodation while they complete their phase 2 training. Training staff work very effectively to ensure that their welfare is given the highest priority. When trainees raise concerns, they are taken very seriously and dealt with promptly.

Outcomes for trainees are very good. Almost all trainees who start the phase 2 submarine training complete it successfully. They receive very good support and care from training staff for this intense and demanding training. The very few trainees who are unable to complete their training receive very good support to move to a different trade within the Royal Navy or to return to civilian life. Those who fall behind with their training due to injury receive excellent support for their rehabilitation and their studies.

Trainees benefit from a comprehensive induction when they arrive at HM Naval Base Clyde. A wealth of information helps them settle into life on the base and their training programme. However, on occasions, trainees do not recall all the information they receive during the early stages of their training, such as to whom they should to report breakages and maintenance issues in their accommodation blocks. As a result, a few repairs or replacements are not attended to, since maintenance staff are unaware of the problem.

Staff provide very good support for trainees who need extra help with their English, their mathematics or both during their studies. Learning support staff have a wide range of expertise. They use this highly effectively to enable trainees to improve these areas without falling behind in their studies. However, learning support staff do not receive information from previous phase 1 or phase 2 establishments about the support trainees have received or what support they would benefit from. As a result, they have to start the diagnostic process from the beginning.

Most trainees start their phase 2 training in good health and dentally fit, but they benefit from very high standards of medical and dental care and receive high-quality, prompt care if they need it. Medical staff provide GP services, minor operations and occupational health services. They ensure that trainees who need secondary care services are referred promptly to the appropriate NHS teams. Medical staff are improving mental health support on the base as a result of increased demand.

Training staff, both civilian and naval, work assiduously to provide very high standards of training to phase 2 submariners. Trainers all have the Defence Train the Trainer v2 qualification before they begin their roles. Military and civilian instructors receive very good support to improve the quality of their practice following their achievement of the Defence Train the Trainer v2 qualification. Senior training staff provide helpful and timely appraisals of the quality of their training. Several civilian trainers have higher-level teaching qualifications. They use their skills to mentor less-experienced trainers in order to maintain high standards of training. Instructors receive high levels of support to develop their skills and maintain their currency with the latest technologies and equipment.

Senior leaders are relentless in their pursuit of high-quality training and care. Leaders see the phase 2 trainees as an integral part of the military and civilian working life of the base. The base commander has an ambitious strategy for the base, set out in ‘The Clyde Community’ document. Senior and other staff maintain comprehensive arrangements to ensure that all trainees benefit from equality of opportunity. Staff successfully promote and celebrate diversity.

Leaders have used the self-assessment process to evaluate accurately the quality of welfare and care. They have developed a quality improvement plan which identifies relevant actions to improve the quality of welfare, care and daily life through new ways of working. They are constantly searching for areas to improve through first, second- and third-party audits. They use information from evaluations and surveys thoughtfully to improve training and attend to any concerns raised about trainees’ accommodation, food, or other non-training matters.

Recommendations

We recommend that HMNB Clyde:

• establishes a systematic procedure so that the information from phase 1 and phase 2 establishments can be used effectively to provide trainees with the highest standard of support, particularly for trainees who need extra help with English or mathematics
• reinforces the key messages from trainees’ induction at appropriate stages during the early weeks of training
• ensures that maintenance requests from trainees are resolved quickly or that alternatives are offered to maintain a high quality of accommodation and daily life

Defence Fire Training and Development Centre, Manston

The Defence Fire Training and Development Centre (DFTDC), at Manston in Kent, carries out fire training for the RAF, MoD and contractor firefighters. Trainee RAF firefighters start phase 2 training with a 14-week operational fire training course at DFTDC. Trainees are also enrolled onto the level 3 apprenticeship standard for operational firefighters. When they graduate from DFTDC, trainees are posted to an operational station to complete their on-the-job training and apprenticeship programme.

In August 2019, the contract for fire services and training across Defence was awarded to Capita. At the time of the inspection, plans were in place for Capita to deliver training at Manston from December 2019 and move all training to Moreton-in-Marsh by December 2020.

At the time of the inspection, 12 trainees were in training, of whom one was female. The proportion of trainees from minority ethnic groups is low and has been at less than 8% for the past 2 years. No trainees are under 18.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Trainees are enthusiastic about becoming RAF firefighters. Pre-selection tests aim to ensure they are capable of completing their training; the vast majority do so at the first attempt. Overall and first-time pass rates have been consistently high for the past 5 years. Trainees are very well prepared, physically and mentally, for their first posting to an RAF station and for the continuing training for their level 3 operational firefighter apprenticeship.

Trainees receive good support from the close-knit team at DFTDC. Staff provide the first point of contact for any concerns. Trainees receive high standards of care and welfare from their immediate chain of command and from senior staff. However, staff from outside the chain of command who provide specialist support for personnel problems and learning needs are not located on site; trainees’ access to these professionals is therefore not straightforward.

Trainees receive good support to develop their fitness, strength and endurance so that they are ready for the physical rigours of firefighting. The physical training instructor has carefully adapted the training schedule to meet trainees’ needs. Injury rates among trainees are low and the physical training instructor works closely with physiotherapists to support those who need it.

With no medical centre on site, trainees are transported to the nearest Army barracks for appointments and to receive physiotherapy for injuries. Although this is appropriately coordinated and managed, trainees worry about missing training and having to catch up. Trainees who are not in training because of injury or failing assessments, and those waiting for a new course, are usually supervised by a physical training instructor. There are no staff allocated to manage holdover trainees. As a result, trainees undertake menial tasks and activities that do not maintain or develop their military or firefighting knowledge and skills.

The senior team, along with contractors, carefully manages and maintains the ageing estate and infrastructure. Staff pay careful attention to maintenance of safety-critical training equipment.

The layout of the welfare hub is not conducive to socialising in groups. Trainees live with a very limited range of facilities on site, including food outlets, shops and recreational facilities. The food in the mess is generally appetising but the range of options is very limited at weekends. The arrangement of the accommodation blocks makes it difficult for lone females to have sufficient privacy while not also feeling isolated.

The small senior team has clear oversight of the care and welfare of all trainees. Regular meetings ensure that key concerns are well understood. Leaders and managers have effective systems in place to monitor any at-risk individuals on the welfare register. The register is detailed.

The self-assessment report identifies many of the establishment’s strengths and areas for improvement. However, it fails to recognise the potential impact of the ageing infrastructure, isolated location and poor messing arrangements. Many of the actions on the quality improvement plan are on hold.

The supervisory care directive provides clear guidance to staff on the expectations for trainees’ welfare and care. The senior team focuses closely on trainees’ well-being. Moving training to Moreton-in-Marsh represents a potential disruption to the smooth provision of welfare and care.

Recommendations

We recommend that DFTDC:

• ensures that, during the planned move of phase 2 training to Moreton-in-Marsh, staff adhere to the supervisory care directive and commander’s risk assessment to maintain the strong culture of welfare and care
• ensures that trainees on holdover, and those who are injured or completing remedial training, are managed effectively so that they can participate in varied, purposeful activities to develop their military and personal skills
• where possible, ensures that more than one female trainee is planned onto a course, so that individual female trainees do not feel isolated

2 Training Regiment Army Air Corps

2 (Training) Regiment Army Air Corps is part of the Army Aviation Centre, based at Middle Wallop in Hampshire. It provides all training for Army Air Corps groundcrew, which includes phase 2 initial trade training and phase 3 specialist training. 668 Squadron provides phase 2 and phase 3 training and 676 Squadron looks after the administration and well-being of all phase 2 trainees. Trainees follow a common syllabus for the first 6 weeks before specialising as either groundcrew or communications specialists.

Around 120 phase 2 trainees are expected to complete training this year, although only half this number went through in 2018/19. Staff forecasts indicate that numbers will increase again in 2020/21. Around a fifth of trainees are under 18 and around a sixth are female. At the time of the inspection, 46 trainees were in training, including those on holdover.

The training pipeline has been revised and shortened. Trainees now spend 19 of 22 weeks at Middle Wallop and 3 weeks at the Defence School of Transport in Leconfield, completing driver conversion licences that allow them to drive specialist military vehicles, before they go to their first posting. Trainees also follow apprenticeships in aviation operations or information technology at level 3, although most of the training for the apprenticeships happens once they get to their units.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Outcomes for recruits remain good, as at the previous inspection in 2011. Overall pass rates have improved over the past 3 years and are currently high. Very few trainees leave phase 2 training early; most do so for medical reasons. Trainees who fail important assessments receive additional help and most succeed in subsequent attempts.

Trainees develop confidence, military skills, driving skills and the professional knowledge required to become class 3 Airtroopers in the Army Air Corps. They are supported well by the military and civilian staff.

2 (Training) Regiment staff introduced a new syllabus this year to shorten the time trainees spend in training. This means that trainees can join their Field Army units faster. Three cohorts will have completed the new course by March 2020. Staff have yet to assess the overall impact of this initiative. However, trainees already spend less time in holdover waiting for driving training and less time away from 2 (Training) Regiment; these are both positive outcomes. Staff manage short holdovers well.

Squadron and unit staff work closely together to provide effective care for trainees. They ensure that trainees are treated fairly and monitor carefully any trainees who need welfare support or medical treatment. Staff keep good records and share information with relevant agencies and the command team very well. Trainees have good access to medical and dental facilities and are supported well to maintain their fitness. Specialist staff help injured trainees to recover, although space and equipment for rehabilitation work are limited.

Trainees do not have good access to welfare and leisure facilities. Past contractual arrangements have limited the opening hours at the mess, shop and café. The WRVS facility is well equipped, but WRVS staffing changes have reduced trainees’ use of it. The gymnasium is well equipped, and trainees and staff can use it during the evenings and weekends. Few other sports or leisure facilities are available nearby. Wi-Fi coverage is good in the accommodation and trainees can easily contact family and friends or carry out research for their courses.

The range of meal choices during the working week is adequate. However, the mess closes too early and no other on-site food outlets are available in the evenings. At weekends, the food service is reduced further. Areas for trainees to store or prepare food in their accommodation are limited. The very small shop on site has a very limited range of items, a problem that was also highlighted at the previous inspection. As a result, trainees supplement their diet with snacks bought from a local shop off site. There are no facilities at the mess entrance for trainees or staff to wash their hands before eating there.

The accommodation and classrooms used by trainees are adequate but ageing, with frequent defects. Most defects are repaired within the contracted time, but they recur often, and staff spend too much time dealing with them.

Senior commanders have a clear focus on the welfare and care of trainees, and processes to support them are good. Senior staff use the commander’s risk assessment, supervisory care directive and quality improvement and action planning documents well to identify concerns and mitigate these where resources allow. They are aware of the matters that have a negative impact on trainees and they have implemented several self-help initiatives to improve matters, with varying degrees of success. At times, they are thwarted by contractual arrangements that do not serve the interests of phase 2 trainees well and by the ageing infrastructure.

Recommendations

We recommend that 2 Training Regiment Army Air Corps:

• rapidly improves trainees’ access to good welfare, sports and leisure facilities on site or nearby
• improves catering, retail and leisure contracts to meet trainees’ welfare and care needs, and extend the opening hours of the catering, retail and leisure facilities on site
• makes lasting improvements to accommodation and classrooms so that frequent minor defects occur less often
• improves safe and hygienic food preparation areas for trainees to use in their own time
• improves the physiotherapy and rehabilitation area
• provides facilities for trainees and staff to wash their hands before eating in the mess

RAF Regiment Training Wing, RAF Honington (Re-inspection)

RAF Honington in Suffolk is home to the RAF Regiment Training Wing. The Regimental Training Squadron (Basics) provides phase 2 training for trainee gunners. RAF Regiment gunners provide ground-based force protection for the RAF.

Trainees take a minimum of 20 weeks to complete their phase 2 training before joining the RAF Regiment as a gunner. At the time of the inspection, there were 81 trainees, of whom 14 were under 18 and 2 were female. The Regiment began to train women in 2017.

El Alamein, Salalah and Meiktila flights hold trainees in training. Habbaniya holds trainees undergoing rehabilitation, re-coursing or who are leaving training. Juno holds trainees waiting to start their training.

This re-inspection followed the full inspection of RAF Honington in October 2018. At that time, the quality of welfare and care was judged to require improvement and the purpose of this visit was to re-inspect it. Outcomes for trainees and the effectiveness of leadership and management were reviewed but not inspected fully or re-graded. The review of outcomes identified high levels of early withdrawal by trainees. As a result, the establishment will be subject to a full inspection during the next inspection cycle in 2020/21.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The proportion of trainees requesting voluntary withdrawal from the RAF Regiment after entering phase 2 in 2018/19 was too high, at 36%. Staff do not know what proportion of these subsequently enter a different trade in the RAF, join another Service or leave the Armed Forces.

Only around half of trainee gunners complete their course. In 2018/19, the overall pass rate for phase 2 trainees was low, at 54%, although slightly higher than the 46% achieved in 2017/18. Trainees’ first-time pass rate in 2018/19 was also very low, at 35%, and had declined from 39% the previous year. Overall pass rates across the 3 training flights vary from 27% to 69%. Leaders have not yet tackled this problem successfully.

At the time of the inspection in November 2019, data for the training year to date indicated an improving picture. However, at that time, the data did not include the winter period, when trainees’ requests for voluntary withdrawal were likely to increase sharply, with a consequent negative impact on the figures.

Leaders currently rely largely on anecdotal evidence about why trainees leave early. For example, training wing staff report that the main reason trainees cite for leaving early is that they have made the ‘wrong trade choice’. When questioned further, trainees say they were encouraged to opt for the Regiment at recruiting stage and told that they could then enter a different RAF trade. The absence of firm evidence means that leaders are unable to tackle the problem incisively.

Trainees who stay on the course gain military skills to the required standard and believe that they are well equipped for their careers in the RAF Regiment. Welfare and care arrangements have improved since the 2018 inspection and are now good. Senior leaders’ strenuous efforts to improve the infrastructure at RAF Honington have been successful. Regiment staff are managing a very large-scale improvement project effectively. New heating and hot water pipework have been installed and the main boiler descaled. The project is expected to be completed by July 2020, ending the long-standing problems of intermittent hot water and heating across the station.

Leaders and managers have also ensured that the previously fragile electrical system is more robust, so that power outages have become a rarity. Leaders have secured funding for a new electrical network design in 2020/21, with build money allocated in 2021/22.

Leaders have ensured that trainees now have functioning washing machines for personal kit and free access to machines for military kit. Leaders’ plans to install more powerful Wi-Fi in trainees’ accommodation are well advanced. The mobile telephone signal is still poor, however, in most areas of the camp.

Leaders are maintaining trainees’ accommodation more effectively in the absence of funding to build new accommodation. This includes adopting a self-help approach, such as laying new carpets, hanging curtains and repainting. Some of it is being upgraded by converting the space to 4-person rooms, with interlinking doors. However, trainees still do not have access to kitchens or fridges.

Staff in the training wing now receive more information from RAF Halton about phase 1 recruits’ welfare matters and the number of under-18s who are likely to move to phase 2 training. Staff from the training wing visit phase 1 trainees at RAF Halton, but these visits do not take place early enough. Recruits get details about the regimental gunner role only when they are close to starting phase 2. Female trainees do not have access to kit, such as webbing that is adapted for women, which leads to discomfort.

Trainees remain confident about approaching their flight staff for support with serious concerns and approaching others, such as padres, usually for less serious concerns. Station padres and SSAFA staff give trainees a much-valued and highly regarded support network beyond trainees’ chain of command.

The monthly welfare case conference committee remains an effective forum for reviewing trainees who are judged to be vulnerable or at risk, including those under the age of 18.

Trainees who arrive at RAF Honington before their phase 2 course starts are held in Juno Flight for between 6 and 8 weeks. Staff in Juno Flight provide a programme of purposeful activities. Although trainees remain generally positive about the time they spend in Juno, a small minority complain that their time is not well spent.

Physical training arrangements and facilities remain excellent and well-managed. Physical training instructors provide a fitness regime which is developmental and progressive. Staff in Habbaniya Flight continue to provide very strong support for trainees who are sick or recovering from injury. Most make a quick recovery and return to training.

Leadership and management of trainees’ welfare and care remain key strengths of the training wing at RAF Honington. Senior leaders continue to implement and strengthen the culture of continuous improvement in welfare and care arrangements. These arrangements are supported by staff throughout the training wing. Leaders have introduced a new management of training cell which provides the focus of management coordination, standardisation, oversight and the ongoing improvement of welfare and care. The management of the training cell is at the heart of effecting change within the training wing.

Senior staff manage and monitor training closely, identifying any improvements needed and implementing them promptly. The commander’s risk assessment and station’s supervisory care directive are comprehensive and give staff very clear direction on how to mitigate or avoid risks to trainees and staff during training. Leaders and managers have paid strong attention to tackling the recommendations for improvement from the previous inspection and most of them are being dealt with successfully. Quality improvement and self-assessment arrangements are still effective.

Leaders and staff have increased the range of data they use to monitor the quality of provision, but gaps remain. Very recent Ipsos/MORI surveys have highlighted instructors’ potentially unfair use of blanket punishments as part of remedial training. This was also the case at the previous inspection. Leaders have taken prompt action again, further revising and implementing standard operating instructions for remedial training. Leaders are only just beginning to collect detailed data which, when more is available, should allow for further analysis of the causes of trainees’ high voluntary withdrawal and low pass rates.

Recommendations

We recommend that RAF Regiment Training Wing, RAF Honington:

• establishes the reasons for the currently high voluntary withdrawal rate and provide solutions that will increase the numbers of trainees who stay in training and pass their courses
• visits phase 1 trainees at RAF Halton earlier so that they receive sufficiently detailed information about the regimental gunner role well before starting phase 2 training
• makes sure that trainees in Juno flight benefit from a programme of purposeful activities and feel their time there is productive
• manages the improvement and maintenance of the station’s infrastructure so that it is reliable and fit for purpose

Joint Intelligence Training Group, MoD Chicksands

This inspection covered the phase 2 intelligence and security trainees at Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG), MoD Chicksands. The Training Delivery Division (TDD) comprises headquarters, 5 training delivery wings and a trainee holdover section.

Templar Company is responsible for phase 2 training for officer and soldier entrants to the Army Intelligence Corps. AIRINT Wing delivers phase 2 training to officers, airmen and Reserve entrants to the intelligence specialisation of the RAF. SIGINT Wing delivers phase 2 training to tri-service specialists on signals intelligence collection, analysis, reporting, management and applied languages. Naval Intelligence Division delivers phase 3 training to potential maritime intelligence specialists. CI and HUMINT Wing delivers phase 3 training on counter-intelligence, human intelligence operations, debriefing, tactical questioning, interrogation, surveillance, and the attaché capability for defence diplomacy roles.

In the 2019/20 training year to date, the TDD had an output of 306 trainees at phase 2.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

A very high proportion of trainees pass their phase 2 training at the first attempt. Those who do not do so receive further training and support before attempting their assessments again. Almost all pass on the second attempt. However, on the operator military intelligence class 3 course, the proportion of trainees who pass at the first attempt is low and has been in decline for several years. Training managers have only recently analysed the reasons for this and put actions in place to improve the first-time pass rate. It is too soon to evaluate the full impact of these changes, although early signs are encouraging.

Officers and senior leaders responsible for training and welfare have trainees’ well-being and success at the heart of what they do. They work hard to make sure trainees are looked after well and make good progress with their training in military intelligence. Training officers spend time outside training hours to help trainees who need extra support.

Senior leaders have worked with instructors to ensure that all staff in the chain of command are aware of the mental health challenges that trainees might face. The base now has equal numbers of first aiders for both mental and medical health to support trainees and permanent staff.

Self-assessment activity in the training division is well organised and understood. Training staff and managers recognise the importance of self-assessment in improving the quality of welfare and duty of care. However, the most recent self-assessment report is overly positive; it does not reflect sufficiently the areas for improvement that are needed.

Senior leaders have worked with dogged determination to improve the quality of the infrastructure on the base. They have not secured prompt and high-quality repairs, despite seeking support from higher command to hold contractors to account.

Trainees’ accommodation is aged and poorly maintained, particularly for male trainees, whose accommodation needs major refurbishment. Trainees are consistently critical of the poor quality of their accommodation’s facilities. Trainees’ lack of access to sufficient white goods, such as washing machines, is of particular concern. Trainees have a system for reporting breakages and non-functioning items in their accommodation, but most say that the contractor responds too slowly or not at all. Most of the hot water and heating systems were functioning at the time of the inspection, but showers and toilets require frequent repair and maintenance.

The catering contractor does not deliver a consistently good service for trainees. Trainees who report concerns and shortcomings about the quality of food at meals are not told about the improvements that catering managers will put in place in response. Much of the food is of a reasonable standard during the week, but it falls below this at weekends.

The range of welfare and leisure facilities, which was already limited, has declined since the previous inspection. Trainees continue to express concern that there is very little for them to do outside normal training hours and particularly during weekends. The theatre opens twice a week and is popular, because it shows up-to-date films. The bar for trainees is shabby and has very limited facilities. The Abeona club, a confidential non-denominational facility, has been closed for several months. Most trainees go off site during weekends.

Trainees have good access to the well-equipped gymnasium at all times.

Recommendations

We recommend that JITG:

• increases the proportion of trainees who pass the operator military intelligence class 3 course at the first attempt
• maintains senior leaders’ focus on improving the ageing infrastructure of the base
• improves trainees’ access to white goods in accommodation blocks, especially washing machines for uniform and kit
• improves the quality of trainees’ food, especially at weekends
• improves trainees’ access to welfare facilities
• ensures that the self-assessment report identifies all the necessary key areas for improvements in training, accommodation and welfare and that judgements in it are based on reliable evidence

Summary reports in date order – Reserve establishments

6 Rifles, Headquarters and C Company

6 Rifles is primarily an Infantry Army Reserve Battalion in the South West and West of England, with 4 sub-units sited over 10 locations. The Battalion consists of around 500 part-time soldiers. Reserve detachments are located across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

The Rifles Regiment consists of 5 Regular battalions and 3 Army Reserve battalions. The Regiment has an established strength of 439. At the time of the inspection, the trained strength exceeded this, at 442. Forty-eight personnel have completed basic training but have not completed initial trade training, although they are counted as trained strength. In addition to infantry soldiers, 6 Rifles includes clerks, chefs and medics in its personnel.

Recruitment of new Reserve personnel is managed by the national recruiting centre; they can start with the Company at any time. At the time of the inspection, 56 Reserve recruits were in training. In the year prior to inspection, the battalion deployed Reservists to support operations and exercises worldwide, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kenya, Canada, South Caucasus, Nigeria and Zambia.

This inspection included spending time in the headquarters in Exeter, with C Company based in Dorchester and with a detachment in Poole.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

C Company staff provide a good resource for Reserve recruits to complete their training and join the Reserve forces. Most recruits who complete the recruiting process go on to become trained Reserve personnel, either with 6 Rifles or another corps. Opportunities to participate in operational activities with Regular units are good. In 2020, the battalion will mobilise 150 Reservists to a United Nations deployment in Cyprus.

Company staff and Reserve instructors support Reserve recruits very well. Recruits feel safe and well looked after. Improvements to the medical clearance procedures have improved the process for most recruits. Key personnel, including the Regimental sub-unit support officer and the Company outreach non-commissioned officer, provide an effective sub-unit recruiting and support team. They have the most contact with recruits and bear significant responsibility for their success. It is not clear, however, if the Regimental sub-unit support officer post will continue into 2021.

The Company is appropriately staffed with fully qualified, full-time staff. Access to Defence Train the Trainer courses for Reserve instructors, however, is difficult, given the time they need to give to complete the course, and the result is that too few are being trained. The training schedule for physical training instructors is even more protracted. It is very difficult for Reserve personnel to complete it to allow them to run physical training sessions for recruits.

The new online foundation programme provides a good opportunity to teach recruits some basic information outside a drill night. However, its information on welfare systems, extremism and radicalisation is insufficient.

Recruits develop good skills during their basic and trade training courses. Company outreach non-commissioned officers work hard to place recruits on the most suitable courses and organise or provide transport to and from the training venues. This takes a lot of time, especially when venues such as the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick are involved. Reports following recruits’ attendance at training are not shared routinely with Company staff, and the latter do not have access to the database that the training centres use.

A good range of meetings and well-maintained progress records help staff to support the welfare of recruits and trained Reservists. Most information is recorded on individual personal plans, although information is not reviewed routinely or added to as part of the welfare process.

Company staff use data well and share it appropriately with headquarters staff to provide a good picture of the progress of recruits and trained personnel. Staff collate useful data on individuals and use it effectively to monitor trends and identify the impact of changes or improvements.

The supervisory care directive is a new document. It is effective in pulling together many of the policies and much of the guidance for managing welfare concerns relating to Regular and trained personnel. However, it is insufficiently focused on the Reserve recruits and their differing pastoral and social concerns, such as those about racialisation and extremism in the areas they live and work.

Although the self-assessment process is under-developed, the self-assessment report highlighted most of the concerns inspectors identified. The report, however, lacked an evaluative focus on training and developing Reserve soldiers’ skills.

Recommendations

We recommend that 6 Rifles:

• ensures that Reserve Company staff who need to can access reports on personnel who have attended basic and initial trade training
• offers Defence Train the Trainer courses in modular or other flexible ways so that Reserve training staff can take them up more easily
• provides adequate support and resources to Company outreach non-commissioned officers so that they can better support Reserve recruits into and through their basic and initial trade training
• ensures that enough physical training instructors are able to qualify and are available in Company to provide appropriate physical training instruction to Reserve personnel
• increases Reserve recruits’ awareness of radicalisation and extremism, with a specific focus on the areas where they live and work
• ensures that the supervisory care directive focuses more on the welfare and support needs of Reserve personnel and also takes concerns about local extremism and radicalisation into account
• improves self-assessment and improvement planning so that these also focus on the welfare needs of personnel in Reserve units

605 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force

Number 605 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF) was reformed in 2014 as a logistics support squadron. It is one of 3 squadrons within Reserve support logistics wing under the command of 38 Group. The squadron is responsible for recruiting and training 106 part-time volunteer Reserve personnel and for providing administration and support while they are being used by the wider RAF. The squadron recruits into 4 trades: logistics (driver), logistics (supply), logistics (chef) and RAF police.

Recruits undertake phase 1 part 1 training on the squadron in 2 4-day blocks. The 15-day phase 1 part 2 basic recruit training course follows at RAF Halton. Trainees undertake training on the squadron or at other training schools, according to their trade. When their training is completed, tests of trade ability in real working environments assess whether trainees have met the required standards.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The officer commanding and senior staff set high expectations for welfare and duty of care, and this is reflected strongly at all levels throughout the unit. A thorough risk assessment identifies risks accurately and is used to inform a comprehensive supervisory care directive. This directive meshes well with the supervisory care directive prepared by the Station Commander, RAF Cosford. This has been achieved through close liaison with station staff and attendance at all station welfare and care meetings.

The squadron headquarters and training facilities are good quality and well maintained. Staff carry out extensive self-help and maintain good relations with station staff and contractors. Staff have created a new recreational area within the headquarters and a realistic training environment for logistics trainees working in supply.

Training staff gain feedback from all training activities, and leaders use this to generate ‘lessons identified’ to form areas for improvement within the self-assessment. This process is relatively informal. For example, recruits, trainees and staff were not aware that their feedback formed a key part of self-assessment.

The self-assessment report is concise and evaluative. It identifies key strengths and provides evidence to underpin them. It also identifies the majority of areas that need improvement, although it provides less evidence for these. The quality improvement action plan is comprehensive. However, the links between the areas for improvement in the self-assessment report and the actions for improvement are not clear enough.

The officer commanding and her senior staff monitor the progress of recruits and trainees who are at risk of not completing their training. During frequent review meetings, staff use detailed and up-to-date records effectively to ensure that everything possible is done to help recruits and trainees to succeed.

Recruits benefit from a comprehensive induction package that prepares them well for training and service in the Reserves. Training staff also provide well-designed training packages that enable almost all trainees to achieve the required standards in their trades.

The squadron has far exceeded its self-imposed annual target to deliver 2,000 mobilisation and Reserve support days. The high proportion of new reservists who completed phase 2 training contributed to the 3,100 days achieved in 2018/19. Staff do not yet monitor the performance of identifiable groups in order to recognise and deal with any achievement gaps, from recruitment to completion of phase 2 training.

Recruits and trainees feel safe and staff treat them fairly. Station security staff brief them on how to keep themselves safe online and on the dangers they might face from radicalisation and extremism. Staff do this during induction and at an annual security brief. Recruits and trainees require more frequent refreshers to consolidate their understanding of this.

Recruits and trainees lack access to free Wi-Fi in the squadron headquarters and classrooms.

A minority of recruits continue to suffer lengthy recruitment delays because of poorly timed medical assessments. For a recent intake, the lack of medical clearance reduced the number of Reservists from the typical 7 or 8 to just 2.

Although it has improved, feedback in the reports on recruits from phase 1 part 1 training at RAF Halton still varies in its quality and usefulness. This is particularly the case in relation to recruits who fail the course and for those who only just pass. Staffing gaps at RAF Halton have also hampered the provision of evaluation officer reports back to the squadron on any general themes they need to be aware of in preparing their recruits for the phase 1 part 2 course.

Recommendations

We recommend that 605 Squadron RAuxAF:

• monitors the performance of groups of recruits and trainees from initial application through recruitment and training to identify and close any gaps in performance across the different groups
• provides refresher training to consolidate recruits’ and trainees’ understanding of how to keep themselves safe from radicalisation and extremism
• ensures that actions in the quality improvement action plan draw from the areas for improvement in the self-assessment report and that staff, recruits and trainees know how their feedback is being used for evaluation
• reduces the time taken to recruit Reserves, particularly through making sure accurate medical assessments are provided swiftly
• improves the quality of reports from RAF Halton on recruits, including evaluation officer reports, to provide clear feedback, particularly on recruits who have been unsuccessful or who have only just met training requirements
• ensures that recruits and trainees have access to free Wi-Fi in their training environments

HMS King Alfred

Located in Portsmouth on Whale Island, HMS King Alfred is one of the largest Royal Naval Reserve units. Around 50 Reserve recruits go through training at any one time. The total ship’s company of Reserve personnel is around 260, of whom around 200 are ready to deploy. Around 90 members of the ship’s company are officers. Reserve recruits and trained personnel travel from across the central south coast, from Brighton to Bournemouth, to attend events and activities.

The primary roles of HMS King Alfred are to prepare Reserve personnel to attend the basic naval training courses at Britannia Royal Naval College and HMS Raleigh and then to act as the parent unit for trained Reserve personnel. Ratings undertake their basic training as recruits and then complete trade or branch training in specialist centres.

The permanent staff team of 3 Regular Royal Navy personnel and 2 full-time Reserve service is supported by 2 civilian administrators.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The vast majority of Reserve recruits complete their basic training to become trained Reservists. Recruitment and selection are managed well for most. However, the medical assessment process was too slow for many, with a small minority appealing against rejection decisions and being successful.

Training prepares ratings and officers well for their initial training courses at HMS Raleigh and Britannia Royal Naval College. As a result, the number progressing to trade or branch training is high, with most recruits who start training passing out as trained Reservists capable of working alongside their Regular counterparts. For many potential officers, there is a long wait to attend the Admiralty interview board.

Reserve recruits are very positive about the support they receive from the divisional system and the senior staff. They feel safe and well looked after. Welfare is well managed, and the divisional system works effectively to provide all personnel with a reporting process. However, instructors and divisional officers do not record systematically any concerns about individuals. As a result, it is not easy to pull together a full picture of those who might be at risk.

The supervisory care directive provides general guidance, but this relates mostly to Regular recruits and under-18s. It is not contextualised to deal with the concerns and needs of Reserve personnel. The directive sets out fully the procedures for safeguarding under-18s so that staff understand how to manage concerns. However, several personnel who would be engaged in managing a safeguarding or welfare problem that might arise have not been checked by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Staff are unclear which roles need to be undertaken by staff who have been DBS checked.

On too many occasions, recruits attend initial training courses without the items of equipment they need, which have to be found at HMS Raleigh. Although the clothing and equipment store is only 2 miles from HMS King Alfred, clothing and equipment have to be sent to London before arriving at the unit. This is excessively bureaucratic. Consequently, recruits find items are missing or do not fit, and they therefore attend their training course poorly equipped and prepared. Several recruits reported they were charged for food at HMS Raleigh during their initial training courses, contrary to phase 1 expectations.

Although HMS King Alfred has close to a full quota of military personnel, both unit administrative posts are now vacant. As a result, senior military staff have to carry out a significant amount of administration to maintain the basic functions of managing the ship’s company.

Staff and recruits have recently received information about their responsibilities under the ‘Prevent’ strategy. However, the information is insufficiently detailed or structured to help personnel to understand the risks in relation to radicalisation and extremism in the context of the areas where they live and work.

The self-assessment process is new and under development. The self-assessment report provides a good overview of the provision, but the links between self-assessment and quality improvement planning are weak.

Recommendations

We recommend that HMS King Alfred:

• ensures that all staff who require it have a DBS check
• improves the supervisory care directive so that it reflects more closely the concerns and needs of Reserve personnel
• ensures that areas for improvement that have been identified in self-assessment feed into quality improvement planning
• records systematically concerns about individual Reserve recruits, to build a full picture of their needs
• ensures that all Reserve personnel are supplied with all the clothing and equipment they need to attend their initial training courses

HMS Scotia

HMS Scotia is the principal Royal Naval Reserve unit in Scotland, reporting to Maritime Reserve headquarters. It is based within the grounds of MoD Caledonia, the MoD Support Establishment at Rosyth.

HMS Scotia recruits and trains Royal Navy reservists from across Edinburgh, Fife and East Central Scotland. It maintains a satellite unit in Dundee, Tay Division, which serves catchment areas around Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen.

HMS Scotia provides initial naval training (phase 1) for ratings and officers. The unit training is supplemented by training at HMS Raleigh for ratings and Britannia Royal Naval College for officers.

The unit also provides phase 2 training for ratings and officers in the Maritime Reserve, with courses at lead schools such as HMS Collingwood or Phoenix Training Group. HMS Scotia’s main role in phase 2 is monitoring the training and progress of individuals’ training task books. Where possible, the unit provides supplementary training locally to enhance the experience for the ratings and officers.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Ratings and officers feel safe and receive adequate support, but the overall arrangements for welfare and care need much improvement, primarily because they lack coherence and are implemented inconsistently. Too few staff at HMS Scotia have a good understanding of welfare and care in practice and their intrinsic role in training.

Since joining the unit, instructional staff and senior leaders have not had any significant training in educational or wider welfare concerns, such as recognising and dealing with alcohol or drug abuse and addiction. Most key documentation is either out of date or incomplete. Despite recent revisions to the commander’s risk assessment, senior staff have not ensured that it complements the supervisory care directive or that both are largely practical in content.

Senior staff have used self-assessment reporting well to highlight and report on areas of concern. However, quality improvement arrangements are at an early stage and actions to remedy the concerns have not really begun. The quality improvement action plan lists areas for improvement, but it does not identify any specific and measurable outcomes that might result. No single quality manual captures all the practices and procedures that should support both the delivery and management of training. Leaders’ internal validation and first-party auditing processes are both in early stages and do not yet feed into the self-assessment report or the quality improvement action plan. Staff recently established a recruit carers’ forum, but it has met infrequently, and it has not informed the self-assessment process.

Leaders are currently working hard to devise and implement new management arrangements, as well as clarifying responsibilities for welfare and care to provide clear direction and purpose, and to make progress. However, leaders do not have the means to identify and evaluate the impact of any actions they might take because they lack useful data beyond the basic information reported to Maritime Reserve headquarters. Staff have planned new datasets, for example, to identify ratings’ and officers’ training outcomes, length of time spent in phase 1 training and pass rates by different groups, but these are not yet being used.

Ratings and officers have a good awareness of the welfare and support services that are available, including the divisional system. They respect their instructors and know how to raise concerns. They are confident these would be dealt with appropriately. Staff quickly and informally resolved a single complaint of bullying last year.

Ratings and officers particularly appreciate their access to a telephone hotline, available 24 hours a day, to contact a member of staff if they have any difficulties when travelling to training. Support and monitoring arrangements for ratings under the age of 18 are fit for purpose. Last year, a care leaver received timely financial support from a Scotia fund to cover travel costs to off-site training. This individual has since joined the Royal Navy as a Regular.

Leaders have recently been very successful in generating new expressions of interest to join HMS Scotia. But around half of these potential ratings and officers fail to meet the minimum medical requirements during the recruitment phase because they lacked information about the test requirements.

Ratings and officers have a good awareness of the importance of staying safe when online and when using social media. However, they have only a superficial awareness of the current risks and dangers to them as military personnel from all forms of radicalisation and extremism.

Ratings and officers are frustrated by having to spend many hours travelling to training that takes place in bases in the south of England. Too often, training finishes early, around midday on a Sunday, leaving personnel with nothing to do until their scheduled flight or train journey. Personnel can spend more time travelling to and waiting for events than in the training itself. Reserve recruits and trainees cannot understand why more of their training does not take place in the many training bases in Scotland.

Recommendations

We recommend that HMS Scotia:

• ensures that all staff have a good understanding of welfare and care beyond the divisional system and that they have a good working understanding of the commander’s revised risk assessment and supervisory care directive
• provides potential ratings and officers with enough information about the medical criteria that must be met during the recruitment process so that they can prepare themselves
• provides more local training for ratings and officers, avoiding the need for extensive travel to the south of England
• improves all strategic and operational aspects of welfare and care, identifying a strong chain of command with focused leadership and clear responsibilities
• ensures that self-assessment and quality improvement planning are fit for purpose and reliably informed by a broad range of inputs
• develops and uses appropriate datasets to support effective performance management and monitoring

611 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force

611 Squadron RAuxAF reformed at RAF Woodvale in March 2013 as a General Service Support Squadron. It reached full operating capability in 2018/19. The Squadron is part of 22 Group and is commanded through the Reserve staff at RAF High Wycombe.

The squadron comprises a permanent headquarters, made up of the senior management, training flight and administrative flight. These work together to recruit, govern, administer and train the squadron establishment of around 130 Reservists.

The aim of the squadron is to generate and prepare trained Reservists for mobilisation in support of Defence needs. The squadron recruits to a wide range of trades and branches. These include: flight operations assistant, intelligence analyst, general technician mechanical/electrical, logistics driver/chef, physical training instructor, personnel support, media/photographic and chaplains.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The officer commanding and his senior team set high expectations for welfare and care and these are reflected in recruits’ and trainees’ positive views about the support they receive. A strong culture of welfare and care exists at all levels throughout the Squadron. The thorough commander’s risk assessment supports a comprehensive supervisory care directive. This fits Reservists’ needs well. A number of other units, including air cadets and university air squadrons, are also located at RAF Woodvale. Camps for Air Training Corps cadets, many of whom are under 18, are kept separate from other on-site training, but arrangements are largely informal and there is no site-wide coordination of supervisory care.

The executive officer chairs a monthly command action group, which includes a thorough review of the progress of all recruits and trainees. This monitoring, however, does not focus formally on identifying achievement gaps between different groups of recruits and trainees.

The command team and staff ensure a strong focus on continuous improvement in the quality of welfare and care. However, the self-assessment process does not evaluate the quality of welfare and care clearly enough and is insufficiently inclusive. Areas for improvement identified in the self-assessment report are not linked clearly enough to the actions for improvement in the quality improvement plan.

Recruits and trainees know who to talk to if they have any concerns and they are confident that staff would provide appropriate support. Staff are mainly very experienced ex-Regular members of the RAF or the RAF Regiment. They use their wealth of experience to challenge the preconceptions of new recruits and to provide support and guidance to longer-serving Reservists. As a result, recruits and trainees feel well supported in achieving their trade aspirations. Staff guide them towards opportunities to maintain currency in their trades and they enjoy fulfilling their operational commitments.

Staff take great pride in improving the environment for recruits and trainees and encourage a self-help approach. They have improved the standard of the Wi-Fi to allow recruits to maintain family links better when they are away. They have also improved the standard of decoration, leisure and laundry facilities in the accommodation block to make a welcoming ‘home squadron’ environment for Reservists.

Instructors benefit from developmental feedback following observations of their teaching. Although the observers are appropriately qualified and experienced, they do not focus sufficiently on the impact of the teaching in helping recruits and trainees to learn.

Recruits are well prepared for their phase 1 basic recruit training course at RAF Halton and all succeed. They develop general military skills and specific, trade-related skills swiftly. Reports on successful recruits from RAF Halton staff point out any areas for further development – mainly around weapons-handling – that training staff can then build into individuals’ phase 2 training programmes.

Recruits and trainees benefit from good-quality physical training equipment and qualified and experienced physical training instructors. Staff provide recruits and trainees with a good induction to the cardiovascular and weights exercise equipment so that they know how to use it safely.

Staff at RAF Cranwell sift applications to the squadron. However, they pass on too many applicants who are ineligible for service in the Reserve Forces rather than who are unsuitable for any other reason.

Staff received poor direction and support from the higher chain of command for introducing the ‘Prowise’ training materials and equipment. This caused stress for instructors and risked the quality of training for recruits.

Recommendations

We recommend that 611 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force:

• coordinates the independent supervisory care directives for the range of units at RAF Woodvale with the RAF Cranwell supervisory care directive to avoid gaps or unnecessary overlaps
• tracks and monitors more formally any performance gaps between identifiable groups of recruits and trainees from their initial application to completion of phase 2 training
• improves self-assessment so that the process takes into account the views of all staff and Reservists and so that the quality of welfare and care is evaluated against all the relevant criteria
• supports instructional observers to focus more on the impact of teaching in helping recruits to learn
• improves RAF Cranwell’s sift of potential recruits so that it is more effective in identifying applicants who are ineligible to join the Reserve Forces
• improves support for staff using the ‘Prowise’ learning materials and equipment to maintain and enhance the quality of instruction

104 Regiment, Royal Artillery

104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, is operationally controlled by the 3 Regional Brigades where its headquarters and sub-unit batteries are located. It is also under the operational command of 1 Artillery Brigade. Army Recruiting and Initial Training Command assurance teams oversee welfare and care arrangements.

The Regiment recruits and trains Reservists through a number of sub-unit batteries at several locations in Wales and the south west of England. The regiment typically recruits around 38 new Reservists each year. Capita manages the assessment and selection of potential Reservists. The phase 0 potential recruits who are known to the regiment receive support and appropriate guidance as they go through the selection process.

Instructors prepare recruits to attend the 5-day phase 1 Alpha course and then the 2-week phase 1 Bravo courses. These courses take place at one of the Army’s basic recruit training centres. On completing this training, trainees take a 5-day artillery signals course to become deployable.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Staff at 104 Regiment have had little direction or guidance through chains of command on welfare and care requirements. The supervisory care directive provides some useful guidance but is written at a higher level than the regiment and does not focus specifically on battery-level matters. Nevertheless, diligent staff have put in place appropriate welfare and care arrangements. Recruits and trainees feel and are safe and well supported during their training.

The self-assessment report identifies some areas for improvement. It also provides evidence of the quality of welfare and care, against inspection framework criteria. Staff do not evaluate this evidence to determine strengths and areas for improvement. Staff do not gather and use the views of staff, recruits and trainees on the quality of welfare and care during the self-assessment process. The quality improvement action plan includes a range of improvement actions, but it is not clear how these relate to the areas for improvement in the self-assessment report. Staff do not closely monitor progress towards targets in the plan.

Permanent staff struggle to sustain, monitor and improve welfare and care arrangements because of staffing gaps.

The regimental operations support officer (ROSO), in addition to many other tasks, is the unit’s welfare officer. He uses his previous experience as a unit welfare officer to good effect in providing high-quality support to those who need it. None of the small number of recruits and trainees who join the regiment each year has yet needed formal welfare support. The ROSO has excellent working relationships with the Army welfare service staff at 160 Brigade, Brecon, and at the other regional brigades. The permanent staff administrative officers at each battery have just completed part 1 of the unit welfare officer course but their welfare role is yet to be formalised.

Reservist instructors find it difficult to become qualified through the Defence Train the Trainer v2 course because they cannot easily attend a 2-week training course. This limits their usefulness. Qualified instructors receive informal oral feedback, rather than formal written feedback, from observations of their instruction. Instructional observers have not yet completed the defence training supervisor course, or the equivalent for trained gunnery instructors. This means that they do not always have all the skills required to provide accurate feedback to help instructors improve.

In place of support from the unit padre, which is an unfilled post, padres from neighbouring units have volunteered their support. Recruits and trainees can contact padres through the ROSO, but not directly.

Staff, recruits and trainees have only a basic awareness of the dangers that recruits and trainees may face from radicalisation.

Recommendations

We recommend that 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery:

• provides staff with direction, support and guidance on the requirements of the welfare and care framework
• refines the supervisory care directive to focus more specifically on battery-level matters
• improves self-assessment, ensuring that the self-assessment report is more evaluative, identifies all areas for improvement and links these areas closely to the actions for improvement in the quality improvement action plan
• reviews progress against improvement targets in the quality improvement action plan more frequently
• gathers more feedback from Reserve recruits and trainees on welfare and care matters and uses this as part of self-assessment
• ensures that instructional observers have the relevant qualifications, skills and experience to provide accurate feedback to instructors
• ensures that greater numbers of Reserve trainers can attend Defence Train the Trainer courses by providing these in modules or other flexible modes of delivery
• ensures that sufficient staff are in post to sustain and improve welfare and care
• makes sure that all recruits and trainees have contact details for padres who have offered to provide support while the regiment’s padre post remains unfilled
• improves staff, recruits’ and trainees’ understanding of the dangers they might face from radicalisation

Summary reports in date order – University Service Units

University of Birmingham Air Squadron

University of Birmingham Air Squadron (UBAS) takes students from 10 universities in Birmingham and the West Midlands. These students become RAF Reserve personnel.

The chain of command for UBAS is through 6 Flying Training School (6FTS) and the Commandant RAF College, Cranwell to 22 Group at headquarters Air Command. Staff at these higher headquarters provide the specifications for training, quality assurance monitoring and overarching support.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

UBAS students benefit from the high expectations, encouragement and care from all staff on the squadron. The officer commanding is a Regular and is supported by a Regular ground training instructor, Reservist flying instructors and civilian staff. Staff are carefully selected and appropriately trained. The staff use their skills and training to plan and provide teaching, learning and assessment that are well tailored to meet individual students’ needs. Staff have a good knowledge of students’ development requirements.

Students are very positive about their experience on the squadron. They are safe, well supported and fairly treated by all squadron staff. They also have the contact details for RAF welfare staff, but not all know how to contact the welfare staff at their own university.

Students make good progress in developing their flying skills. Progress is closely related to the intensity of the degree programme they are taking.

Students from an increasing range of universities are successful at officer and aircrew selection boards. This has been achieved since staff recognised that students in the University of Birmingham flight were more successful. In response, the staff introduced mixed university flights. However, staff do not keep formal records of students’ destinations when they finish their time on the squadron. This means they cannot judge the impact of the time a student has spent on the squadron and they miss the opportunity to gain feedback that might improve training.

Students who have passed the acting Pilot Officer course carry out leadership and deputy roles across the full range of squadron training and activities. They and their fellow students gain strong leadership skills and much-improved confidence in their abilities. They also develop high-quality presentation and briefing skills.

Although overwhelmingly positive about their experiences at the squadron, students identified 3 minor areas for improvement. They would appreciate knowing the name of the military education committee member for their university. Female students would appreciate more timely supply of number 1 uniform skirts. They would benefit from more formal communication from the officer and aircrew selection centre, because most rely on informal information passed from previous students who have attended selection boards.

Accommodation is difficult to secure and is often not confirmed until shortly before the planned training events. Staff and students are currently not permitted to use officers’ accommodation when attending training courses. Instead, they must use airmen’s transit accommodation, which is not always appropriate for their needs. Some of the transit routes that students take around the outside of hangars are unlit. Staff should ensure that students have torches to mitigate the risk of injury through tripping.

Having just been introduced to the Ofsted framework contextualised for defence, the officer commanding and his team have made good progress in evaluating the quality of their welfare and care arrangements. They have also started to populate a quality improvement plan. They plan to build on this work, using feedback from inspection and also from students and staff, to evaluate and improve outcomes and welfare and care.

Recommendations

We recommend that UBAS:

• ensures that all students know whom to contact about welfare matters at their own university and that they have the contact details for their university’s member of the military education committee
• monitors students’ next steps and gains feedback on the impact of their time at the UBAS on career progress
• completes the work to assess the quality of welfare and care and ensures that the quality improvement plan reflects all areas for improvement
• improves the formal communications between officer and aircrew selection centre, 6FTS and UBAS
• makes sure that UABS students and staff can use officers’ mess accommodation during training courses
• improves the timely supply of number 1 uniform for female students

Southampton University Air Squadron

Southampton University Air Squadron (SUAS) takes students from 4 universities on the south coast of England. These students become RAF volunteer reserve personnel, referred to as students.

At the time of the inspection, 37 students were on the squadron, with a further 25 first-year students about to attest.

The chain of command for UASs is through 6 Flying Training School (6FTS) and the Commandant RAF College Cranwell, to 22 Group at Headquarters Air Command. Staff at these higher headquarters provide the specifications for training, quality assurance monitoring and overarching support.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The officer commanding and adjutant have high expectations for welfare and care and an ambitious vision for further improvement. The officer commanding, who has been in post for 3 months, has worked extremely hard to evaluate the quality of welfare and care against the inspection framework. Learning swiftly from the feedback provided at the first UAS inspection of another unit, the officer commanding implemented timely improvements. He also gained the views of most students, on every aspect of the framework, through an online questionnaire. The results were extremely positive and were mirrored in the views students expressed to inspectors.

All students were making good progress and had equally good chances of succeeding, including the greater than 10% of students from minority ethnic backgrounds. All students were safe, well supported and treated fairly. There are no achievement gaps between individuals or groups.

The progress students make in flying training is closely related to the intensity of their degree courses. The large majority, who aspire to become RAF pilots, are making good progress. The ground training syllabus has been under review for a considerable time, which makes it hard for staff to link training objectives to students’ intended next steps. Squadron staff use their own experience to determine which objectives students need to meet and which should be priorities.

Staff have only very recently improved their awareness of what students hope to achieve during their time on the squadron. They have done this through introducing interviews with mentors, who work with students to identify their aims. As a result, staff can better tailor training to meet individual needs. This will be particularly important for those who decide they do not want to join the RAF.

Staff do not formally monitor what students do when they have completed their time on the squadron and they do not contact them to seek feedback. This means that staff do not have ways of knowing the impact of the training on students’ careers.

Students benefit from good-quality accommodation, funded by 6FTS and managed by the UAS. Staff ensure that they fix any defects quickly. Students do not have access, however, to Wi-Fi on the squadron or in their mess accommodation. This limits their ability to study, both for their UAS work and their degrees. Students also lack enough quiet space to study, particularly between flying training sorties.

Students receive excellent support from the squadron adjutant, the officer commanding and their instructors. They are confident that they would receive support and care should they need it. Records show that the handful of students who have needed it have received good levels of support. Staff provide students with clear guidance on how to contact a range of RAF and university support staff. This includes a useful welfare contact card for RAF welfare staff. A recently appointed welfare student is working rapidly to develop further the relationships between SUAS and university welfare staff.

The ground training instructor is a physical training instructor with adventurous training qualifications. He supports students well to achieve and sustain the levels of physical fitness needed to pass or exceed the requirements of the fitness test. He also provides presentations on healthy eating, nutrition and fitness, which help students manage their health and well-being.

Recommendations

We recommend that SUAS:

• monitors students’ next steps and assesses the impact of their time on the UAS on the roles they take up on completing their degrees
• completes the review of the UAS ground training syllabus as a priority
• ensures that UAS students have free access to Wi-Fi in their accommodation and workplaces while training
• continues the work to secure additional space in, or near, the squadron offices to provide students with a quiet space to study
• completes work to assess the quality of welfare and care against the criteria in the contextualised Ofsted framework
• monitors closely the quality improvement plan to drive improvement

Southampton University Royal Naval Unit

Southampton University Royal Naval Unit (SURNU) is based in the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton and was established in 1974. SURNU takes students from the 4 universities on the south coast: Southampton, Solent, Winchester and Portsmouth. The primary roles of University Royal Naval Units are to develop undergraduates’ understanding of the Naval Service, so that those who go into civilian employment are positive advocates of the military, and to facilitate a naval career for those who choose to join the Royal Navy.

A total of 57 students attended SURNU at the time of inspection, of whom 36 were recent joiners, 14 were in their second year and 7 were in their third and final year. The numbers of men and women were roughly equal.

The staff team consists of 2 Regular staff, the commanding officer, a coxswain and a part-time administrative assistant. Training is managed and directed by the 7 training officers, who are all Reserve personnel.

The chain of command for all University Royal Naval Units is with Britannia Royal Naval College. Staff there provide the specifications for training, quality assurance monitoring and overarching support.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Students attending SURNU quickly develop useful skills that will help them in future careers in the Royal Navy or in business. Students have many good opportunities to attend a wide range of deployments, on ships and air stations around the world. A minority gain an additional Level 5 business qualification in their third year in SURNU. Most students also achieve a Royal Yachting Association qualification in small-boat handling and navigation.

Students receive good support and training from a dedicated team of training officers, who are also the divisional officers. As Reserve personnel, the training officers enthusiastically deliver naval and maritime skills as well as look after the students on deployment. However, not all training officers are able to attend the full-time Defence Train the Trainer course because they cannot spare the required time away from work and the SURNU.

In too many cases, the medical process required for students to join the SURNU takes too long. A significant number of potential students are rejected because of minor ailments that, when examined by Royal Navy personnel, are not deemed significant. However, the lack of staff to do this analysis means some students have to wait a long time to hear the result of an appeal.

The divisional system works well, providing each student with a welfare support chain. Final-year students act as assistant divisional officers, helping to bridge the gap between staff and students. Although senior staff have produced a supervisory care directive, it is still new and does not focus sufficiently on how welfare is managed in the SURNU. It also fails to make links between the SURNU welfare arrangements and the various universities’ support mechanisms.

Students have a good understanding of the ‘Prevent’ strategy. They know how to stay safe and understand the need to be careful about wearing military uniform in public. However, staff do not provide the students with any information about the dangers of radicalisation and extremism where they live and study.

Students do not value their task books, which are not mandatory, and many do not use them. They lack clear performance milestones or indicators and they do not help the students to know how they are progressing with their level 5 qualification. Consequently, students are unaware of what they need to do to be successful in training.

Data collation and analysis, quality improvement planning and self-assessment are new to SURNU. None of these processes is sufficiently mature to provide a strong evaluative picture of the provision. The self-assessment report is insufficiently focused on the performance of SURNU, with too much general information about all the University Royal Naval Units. Staff do not collect or analyse performance data to provide any detailed analysis of what is working well and what could be improved and therefore they cannot use this data to inform their self-assessment report.

Recommendations

We recommend that SURNU:

• makes sure that training officers can complete the Defence Train the Trainer course with minimal time away from work and SURNU
• strengthens the welfare links with each university and makes sure that staff know how each university welfare chain functions and whom to contact to help students with concerns
• collects and analyses data to better understand the retention and achievement of different groups of students and the impact of training on officer cadets’ subsequent careers in the Armed Forces or in civilian life
• establishes achievement milestones in the students’ task books to provide them with goals and to clarify their understanding of how they are progressing
• improves quality improvement and self-assessment processes so that they focus more closely on the welfare and support needs of the students and staff in SURNU
• improves the ‘Prevent’ training by helping students to understand better the dangers of radicalisation and extremism in the areas where they live and study

Oxford University Royal Naval Unit

The Oxford University Royal Naval Unit (OURNU) is based in Falklands House, Oxford, alongside the Oxford University Officer Training Corps and the Oxford University Air Squadron. The OURNU takes students from 3 universities: Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Reading.

The chain of command for all University Royal Naval Units is through Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. OURNU comprises 38 officer cadets/honorary midshipmen and 7 staff. Staff consist of a commanding officer, a coxswain who is a chief petty officer, a unit secretary and 4 training officers. Longer-serving officer cadets act as divisional and senior midshipmen. Fifteen officer cadets are from Oxford University colleges, 13 are from Oxford Brookes University and 13 are from the University of Reading. Around two thirds of the students are men.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Officer cadets gain good basic knowledge and experience of seamanship and navigation during their time with OURNU. They are enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoy working with like-minded people from different universities. Officer cadets improve their communication skills, team-working and organisational skills. Since staff did not previously record or analyse information and data about the progression and achievements of different groups of officer cadets, current staff are unable to investigate whether the outcomes for officer cadets are improving.

The commanding officer, coxswain and staff at OURNU prioritise highly the welfare and care of officer cadets. All concerns and incidents are carefully recorded and followed up. Staff monitor all non-attendance to check officer cadets have a valid reason for missing training nights and activities. Welfare arrangements have been greatly enhanced by nominating a medical student, with relevant training, as an honorary surgeon sub-lieutenant to act as a point of contact for the well-being of officer cadets. Staff have established effective links with specialist welfare staff within the 3 universities.

The new leadership team has used the self-assessment process and quality improvement plan effectively to increase recruitment, improve retention and improve the training environment. The training room has been refurbished and officer cadets comment on how training is more engaging. The training accommodation and messing arrangements are generally good, although little use is currently made of the gym as there are no qualified physical training instructors.

Staff use the recruitment processes and new entry weekend well to provide briefings on a range of topics to prepare students for their time in URNU. However, the briefing on the dangers of radicalisation and extremism has not yet been extended to officer cadets in their second and third years.

Training staff are experienced officers from Regular and Reservist backgrounds, with appropriate skills to teach seamanship and navigation. Several are OURNU alumni and, consequently, have a very good understanding of how to support officer cadets. However, current trainers do not hold appropriate training qualifications, and nor have they completed divisional officer training courses. These Reserve personnel find that access to relevant courses is difficult, because they cannot take long periods of time off work or away from the unit.

Recommendations

We recommend that OURNU:

• collects and analyses relevant data and information on officer cadets’ progress and outcomes to monitor trends and identify any differences between different groups
• tracks officer cadets when they have completed their time in OURNU to understand better the benefits to individuals as well as their progression into the Royal Navy Regulars, Reserves or other employment
• supports training officers to take relevant training courses to improve their effectiveness as trainers and divisional officers

City of Edinburgh Universities Officer Training Corps

City of Edinburgh Universities Officer Training Corps (CEUOTC) is based on an extensive military site to the west of Edinburgh as a tenant of the Lowland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association. CEUOTC shares the location with 105 Regiment Royal Artillery, which is responsible for the site’s security, and the Royal Marines Reserve, Scotland. CEUOTC reports to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) as a phase 1 training establishment in the Sandhurst Group, and to 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters, Scotland.

CEUOTC recruits officer cadets predominantly from 3 universities in the city: the University of Edinburgh (historically just over 70% of recruits), Heriot-Watt University (around 17% of recruits), Edinburgh Napier University (around 9% of recruits). A very small number of cadets attend from Queen Margaret’s University. Around 60% of cadets are men. The age range is broadly from 18 to 24.

Officer cadets are organised into 3 sub-units. The first- and second-year cadets progress through the RMAS group modules A and B. The third- and fourth-year cohorts join Geddes Company for continued personal and leadership development as officer cadets. They then progress to Army officer selection board and modules C and D at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Third- and fourth-year cadets act as under-officers to provide the command element for more junior cadets. All Geddes cadets receive bespoke leadership and personal development training.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

Senior leaders acknowledge that while welfare and care remain priorities, there are currently few key strengths regarding the strategic leadership and operational management of the unit’s welfare and care arrangements. This is due, in large part, to the negative impact of a poorly coordinated and substantial change in senior and instructor staffing during 2019. Few of the new staff had handovers and had to pick up the reins of their new roles unaided. New communication software was installed around the same time, but very few staff knew how to use it. As a result, the leadership and management of welfare and care in officer cadets’ training are only just beginning to improve.

The unit currently has no commanding officer. The command team, led by the second in command, is in the early stages of improving welfare and care arrangements. There is a strong sense of urgency and focus in their intentions and planning, but most improvement actions are at a very early stage. Staff have only recently been informed of leaders’ intentions and the rationale behind them. They appreciate leaders’ plans for an inclusive and collaborative approach to change. However, only 70% of the unit’s staff positions are currently filled. Senior staff must manage 12 gapped posts for senior non-commissioned officer posts in instructor and physical training roles. Nevertheless, remaining staff are working very hard to fulfil training outputs.

All principal welfare and care documents, including the commander’s risk assessment and supervisory care directive, either require review or are out of date. The unit’s self-assessment report is largely descriptive, and the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses within it is cursory.

Two university student unions have recently become less amenable to the arrangement whereby CEUOTC staff attend freshers’ fairs in the autumn. This has led to reduced numbers of new recruits. Leaders’ efforts to rebuild these relationships are at an early stage.

Too few potential recruits are prepared well enough to understand the medical criteria that might cause them to fail during recruitment and selection.

Senior leaders cannot monitor the performance of officer cadets in any depth, or identify positive or negative trends, because they have little data and no comprehensive management information system. Officer cadets mostly drop out during module A training and in the transition to the module B course. Cadets who stay in training value the quality and range of training they receive. They develop appropriate military values, and personal and social skills through carefully designed and executed programmes of military training. Officer cadets feel safe during training, on and off site.

Officer cadets have good access to a broad range of on-site and nearby facilities and resources. Staff use these well to develop officer cadets’ technical skills and knowledge of fieldcraft. The great majority of instructors are trained to the Defence Train the Trainer standard and are suited to their roles. All officer cadets enjoy the camaraderie and support they receive from their peers. Officer cadets have only a superficial awareness of the current risks and dangers to them as military personnel from all forms of radicalisation and extremism.

Officer cadets are aware of the welfare and support services they can access, principally through their chain of command. Permanent staff and under-officers are highly responsive to and supportive of cadets with any concerns. Officer cadets very recently raised a major concern relating to an incident involving a senior member of staff. The response from their immediate chain of command was brisk. An RMAS-led investigation of this incident was underway at the time of inspection. A previous incident, in 2018, had also been reported by officer cadets. Officer cadets interviewed by inspectors were emphatic that the incidents were isolated and unrelated and did not reflect an endemic weakness in welfare and care arrangements.

Officer cadets have access to good mess facilities. The facilities and buildings used by the CEUOTC are in generally good repair and mostly well maintained, although a long-standing leak in the drill hall roof, identified around 20 years ago, has still not been fixed. Officer cadets have good access to sex-appropriate military kit through an on-site kit store.

Recommendations

We recommend that CEUOTC:

• ensures that goals for the strategic and operational improvement of welfare and care arrangements are comprehensive, achievable and understood by all staff, and focuses these strongly on ensuring that the behaviours of all staff are consistently in line with military expectations
• improves the supervisory care directive and commander’s risk assessment, and ensures that both provide practical guidance for staff on their role in providing welfare and care
• improves arrangements to monitor the impact of improvement actions in welfare and care, and the overall performance of officer cadets in training
• improves links with university student unions to better publicise the benefits of joining the unit
• makes sure that all potential officer cadets have a good understanding of the medical criteria that they will have to meet to be successful during the recruitment stage
• improves staff’s and cadets’ awareness of the current risks and dangers to them, as military personnel, from all forms of radicalisation and extremism

North West Officer Training Regiment

North West Officer Training Regiment (NWOTR) is a leadership development and training organisation for selected students and Army Reserve potential officers, located in the north west of England. The regiment is part of Sandhurst Group but also reports through the north-west regional command structure.

NWOTR recruits through Liverpool and Manchester University Officer Training Corps (UOTCs) from students at 12 regional universities. The unit is established for 9 Regular personnel, 62 Reserve personnel, 9 full-time Reserve service personnel, 10 civilian staff and 268 officer cadets. The 2 UOTCs are established for 78 first-year (module A) cadets, 38 second-year (module B) cadets, and 18 third-year (senior) cadets. Staff provide bespoke leadership training for cadets who seek to join the Army.

Overall effectiveness of welfare and duty of care

The commanding officer sets very high expectations for what officer cadets should achieve and for the quality of welfare and care. These expectations are reflected throughout the regiment. Staff at all levels are prepared well for their roles through training and appropriate professional development. The supervisory care directive is comprehensive and based on a thorough commander’s risk assessment.

The regimental self-assessment process takes into account a wide range of input and feedback from staff and officer cadets. However, the process is largely informal, so staff and officer cadets are not generally aware that their input forms a key part of the process. The resulting self-assessment report is too descriptive, with evaluative statements being made only in the brief ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats’ analysis section. Just 2 of the identified weaknesses relate to welfare. The links between these and the actions for improvement in the quality improvement action plan are not clear.

The unit welfare officer is well qualified and experienced. He is now well known by officer cadets as their welfare point of contact. This has been achieved through frequent visits to remote UOTCs. The unit welfare officer is about to be provided with a duty mobile phone to improve his accessibility, should officer cadets have urgent concerns. Outside normal working hours, officer cadets know whom to contact among welfare staff at their universities. Staff have improved relationships with these welfare staff. The unit welfare officer maintains appropriate records of the very small number of welfare concerns that have arisen. These are reviewed frequently by welfare specialists at headquarters north-west division and show that appropriate actions have been taken when required. Staff do not monitor trends in welfare concerns so are not able to identify any patterns emerging or any problems experienced by particular groups of cadets.

Permanent staff instructors and more than half of Reservist instructors are Defence Train the Trainer v2 qualified. The remaining Reservist instructors are unable to attend these full-time Defence Train the Trainer courses because of the demands of their civilian employment. Staff lack access to a modular, regionally delivered Defence Train the Trainer course that might permit attendance for those with work or other commitments. Instructional staff generally do not have access to formal development opportunities locally when they are unable to attend Defence Train the Trainer courses. Experienced instructional observers provide developmental feedback to instructors. The process by which these observers are selected lacks clarity.

Officer cadets benefit from a safe training environment while at their UOTCs, on training weekends and at annual camps. They are treated fairly and are given every opportunity to succeed. They have only a basic awareness of the dangers of extremism and radicalisation and are not secure in their understanding of ways to report concerns. The messages they hear at annual security briefings need further development and more frequent reinforcement.

Medicals for officer cadets are carried out locally by contracted GPs. Generally, these are timely, but delays do occur. When reviews or appeals arise from medicals, RMA Sandhurst staff usually process these within reasonable timescales. Officer cadets identify a wide range of improved skills since joining their UOTCs. These include improved leadership, organisational skills, public speaking and much-improved levels of self-belief and confidence.

At the time of the inspection, around a third of officer cadets were female. Leaders are trying to secure additional female staff to better represent the student body and provide role models. Each female officer cadet has a nominated female point of contact and 6 female officer cadets were about to attend the Army Service women’s network conference.

Staff do not formally monitor destinations or gain feedback from officer cadets who do not join the Regulars or Reserves. Therefore, they are unable to evaluate the success of one of the key training outputs, which is about helping to promote a positive view of the Armed Forces in society.

Recommendations

We recommend that NWOTR:

• evaluates the quality of welfare and care in more detail and reflects the areas for improvement in the self-assessment report, linking these to actions in the quality improvement action plan
• monitors performance trends and welfare needs within different groups of cadets
• tracks more thoroughly the next steps of cadets who do not join the Regular or Reserve Forces to evaluate the wider impact of officer cadet training
• reduces the number of vacant posts for Reservist instructors and recruits more female instructors to these posts to better reflect the gender balance of cadets
• ensures that all instructors and instructional observers are appropriately qualified; for Reservist instructors, provides Defence Train the Trainer courses that can be taken in modules
• makes sure that potential officer cadets receive timely medical appointments and reduces the time RMAS medical staff take to review appeals
• increases officer cadets’ awareness of the potential dangers of radicalisation and extremism and clarifies the procedures for dealing with any identified concerns from cadets or staff  

Ofsted’s terms of reference

Ofsted will:

• carry out an annually agreed programme of activity that may include inspections, surveys, reports and training that satisfies the requirements of this memorandum with Ofsted’s agreement
• evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic and operational management of the care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees during initial training in the Armed Forces
• use the most recent version of its inspection framework to determine the extent to which progress has been made in dealing with concerns about care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees during initial training in the Armed Forces
• make judgements on the strengths and weaknesses of initial training
• prepare and produce inspection reports, normally after each training establishment inspection
• provide follow-up re-inspection where poor performance has been found
• take account of safeguarding in line with the current framework, where relevant
• visit MoD initial training locations, Armed Forces Careers Offices, acquaint and selection centres and Service training headquarters as required and appropriate
• provide regular progress reports on inspection outcomes to the MoD’s Directorate of Training, Education, Skills, Recruiting and Resettlement
• usually publish an annual report by May of the respective reporting year; this will include the observations and findings from individual units
• raise awareness of the relevant inspection framework and role of the nominee in the inspection process for MoD personnel
• hold nominee conferences for representatives of units likely to be inspected so that personnel can be briefed about their role
• provide link inspectors to work with appropriate MoD staff representing agreed areas of the MoD training and education provision
• review the inspection framework on a 2-yearly basis to ensure that it remains suitable for the MoD commissioned inspection regime for welfare and duty of care (we are currently reviewing this framework and intend to implement it in September 2020)

The MoD seeks to achieve the following:

• the implementation of quality assurance arrangements that guarantee high standards, meet the requirements of the MoD and add value to the expenditure of public money, and at least match the quality of comparable civilian learning programmes
• the ability to have access to the national learning community to share good practice and benchmark Defence training and education
• the ability to maintain and update professional skills through continuous professional development activity in order to support the lifelong learning agenda and skills development in the MoD
• the introduction of independent inspection, re-inspection and oversight of Defence learning provision, including the duty of care and welfare provision, within an agreed programme, to complement the internal quality assurance and improvement procedures of the Armed Forces and the MoD.

In light of this agreement, Ofsted and the MoD will work together to develop a training and inspection programme which will run alongside the MoD’s existing audit arrangements.

Inspection dates

Date of inspection	Regular establishments
No 4 School of Technical Training, Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, MoD St Athan	18 September 2019
Defence School of Policing and Guarding, Southwick Park	24 September 2019
Recruit Training Wing, Commando Training Centre Royal Marines	2 October 2019
Officers’ Training Wing, Commando Training Centre Royal Marines	2 October 2019
Defence Fire Training and Development Centre, MoD Manston	9 October 2019
HM Naval Base Clyde	29 October 2019
2 Training Regiment Army Air Corps	26 November 2019
RAF Honington (RI visit)	27 November 2019
Joint Intelligence Training Group	14 January 2020
Reserve establishments	-
6 Rifles	3 December 2019
605 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force	11 January 2020
HMS King Alfred	14 January 2020
HMS Scotia	23 January 2020
611 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force	7 February 2020
104 Regiment Royal Artillery	18 February 2020
University Service Units	-
University of Birmingham Air Squadron	7 November 2019
Southampton University Air Squadron	12 November 2019
Southampton University Royal Naval Unit	21 November 2019
Oxford Universities Royal Naval Unit	28 November 2019
City of Edinburgh Universities Officer Training Corps	22 January 2020
North West Officer Training Regiment	4 February 2020