Recent answers from Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard MP have revealed detailed insights into the training budgets of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force from FY2018-19 to FY2023-24.
These figures highlight trends in spending on Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) for each service, illustrating significant investment growth in several areas.
The detailed training budgets for each branch of the Armed Forces are summarised below:
Royal Navy
| Year | Budget (£M) |
|---|---|
| FY2018-19 | 23.783 |
| FY2019-20 | 21.989 |
| FY2020-21 | 25.198 |
| FY2021-22 | 64.984 |
| FY2022-23 | 101.330 |
| FY2023-24 | 112.128 |
The Royal Navy’s training budget has seen the most dramatic growth, surging from £23.783 million in FY2018-19 to £112.128 million in FY2023-24.
British Army
| Year | Budget (£M) |
|---|---|
| FY2018-19 | 90.998 |
| FY2019-20 | 95.057 |
| FY2020-21 | 93.499 |
| FY2021-22 | 91.225 |
| FY2022-23 | 98.883 |
| FY2023-24 | 104.749 |
The British Army’s budget has seen steadier increases, rising from £90.998 million in FY2018-19 to £104.749 million in FY2023-24.
Royal Air Force Training Budgets
| Year | Budget (£M) |
|---|---|
| FY2018-19 | 55.482 |
| FY2019-20 | 73.274 |
| FY2020-21 | 65.237 |
| FY2021-22 | 70.998 |
| FY2022-23 | 66.007 |
| FY2023-24 | 86.206 |
The Royal Air Force’s training budget has also grown, increasing from £55.482 million in FY2018-19 to £86.206 million in FY2023-24.
A cost per head would be useful. The Army cost per head would work out to be quite small.
If we’re spending more on training, might it be a faint hope that we’ll start spending more on other things, too, e.g. growing the size of our forces?
Appalling article.
Where is your information sourced?
What is the justification for the spend ?
Have you considered prior to this article why the training is expanded?
Poor journalism imo.