The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
156.
In his
autobiography, Gen Dannatt described the Operational Allowance as
the
product of
“some journalistic pressure and keen discussions with the
Treasury”.101
He also
described it as the beginning of his campaign to “improve the
soldiers’ lot”.
157.
Mr Browne
announced the introduction of the Operational Allowance
on
158.
Mr Browne
raised the issue of Council Tax charges for deployed Service
Personnel
with Ms
Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, on
19
October.103
MOD and
DCLG officials subsequently met to explore options for
abating
Council Tax
charges. The MOD’s preferred option was a statutory discount of 25
percent
(which
would equate to a discount of £132 based on the average Council Tax
bill).
159.
Mr Browne
announced in September 2007 that Service Personnel serving
in
Iraq and
Afghanistan would receive a £140 rebate on their Council Tax bill
(based
160.
The NAO
published a report entitled Recruitment
and Retention in the Armed
Forces
in November
2006.105
The report
stated that, at July 2006, the trained strength
of the
Armed Forces stood at around 180,690 Service Personnel, a shortfall
of some
5,170 (2.8
percent) against the MOD’s estimated requirement.
161.
This figure
masked significant shortages in 88 “pinch point” trades, where
there
was
insufficient trained strength to perform operational tasks while
enabling the
Harmony
Guidelines to be met. While 14.5 percent of the trained strength of
the Army
had
exceeded the Harmony Guidelines at some point in the previous 30
months, this
percentage
rose to more than 33 percent for some pinch point
trades.
•
Although
the Armed Forces had consistently operated at or above the
most
demanding
combination of operations envisaged by the Defence
Planning
Assumptions
(DPAs) since 2001, and the MOD expected that this
would
continue to
be the case for some time, the Armed Forces’ manning
requirements
had not
been adjusted to reflect the current levels of activity. The NAO
reported
that, while
the MOD accepted that operating at that level could result in it
placing
additional
strains on its people, the DPAs were guidelines only and were
not
intended to
constrain decisions taken on the employment of the Armed
Forces.
101
Dannatt,
R. Leading
from the Front. Bantam
Press, 2010.
102
BBC, 10
October 2006, Soldiers to
get ‘tax bill’ bonus.
103
Minute
Baker to PS/SoS [MOD], 8 December 2006, ‘An Improved Package for
Service Personnel
on Operations
– Council Tax Discounts/Rebates’.
104
The
Guardian, 26
September 2007, Council tax
rebates for war zone soldiers.
105
National
Audit Office, Recruitment
and Retention in the Armed Forces, November
2006.
30