Military money, civilian risks: MoD falls short on cadet oversight
MoD warned to fix oversight failings in £146m cadet and reserve force network or risk weakening UK defence support.
LATEST NEWS
A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) warns that the Ministry of Defence has left key risks unresolved in its oversight of the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (RFCAs), which support over 31,000 reserves and nearly 140,000 cadets. The watchdog found that five years after a landmark review, oversight reforms remain incomplete and spending controls weak.
The RFCAs, responsible for 2,478 training sites across the UK, still operate through a patchy governance model. A 2023 plan to create a unified public body was shelved while concerns over transparency and compliance with Treasury rules persist. “The MoD must mitigate remaining legal and financial risks,” the NAO states.
In 2019 the MoD published the latest in its series of periodic reviews of the RFCAs, which became known as the ‘Sullivan review’ after its author. The review examined the need for the RFCAs, the appropriateness of their delivery model and the effectiveness of their governance and management. The review made 80 recommendations for change, including regularising and streamlining the Council and the 13 RFCAs into a non-departmental public body (NDPB), to provide a “more efficient and effective service” to the MoD, with “more accountable and business-like corporate governance” and in order to address financial, legal, safeguarding and estate safety risks.
The new report raises urgent questions: how can the MoD ensure robust support for national defence without losing the RFCAs’ local strengths? The answer may shape the future of UK reserves.
[Read our Comments Guidelines]