Question follow-through · 119763
Armed Forces: Age
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the age for deployable service-personnel to 16.
About this written question
A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.
- Answering body
- Ministry of Defence
- Tabled
- 10 Mar 2026
- Target answer date
- 17 Mar 2026
- Answer
- 17 Mar 2026 · 7 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
More questions by this MP on Defence and foreign affairs
- Ministry of Defence: Redundancy Pay · 24 Mar 2026
- Ministry of Defence: Performance Appraisal · 25 Mar 2026
- Ministry of Defence: Civil Servants · 26 Mar 2026
Shared topic keywords suggest a connection; they do not establish a follow-up.
Votes on this topic
- Opposition Day Motion: Defence spending and readiness - Prime Minister's Amendment · 23 Jun 2026
- Opposition day: Defence spending and readiness · 23 Jun 2026
- Armed Forces Bill Report Stage: Amendment 11 · 22 Jun 2026
These Commons divisions share a topic label. The question did not necessarily lead to a vote.
Recorded timeline
10 Mar 2026
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the age for deployable service-personnel to 16.
17 Mar 2026
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
17 Mar 2026
Answer published
All recruitment into the UK military is voluntary and no young person under the age of 18 years may join our Armed Forces unless their application is accompanied by the formal written consent of their parent or guardian. We take the duty of care towards a...
Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.
Later records
Possible follow-up questions
Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.
Ministry of Defence: Redundancy Pay
24 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Ministry of Defence: Performance Appraisal
25 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many departmental employees were on performance management plans in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Ministry of Defence: Civil Servants
26 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in their Department were found to have broken the Civil Service Code in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.