The MoD structure is hard for the outsider to understand. Yet, while exact figures are not available, it is probably the biggest single employer of Service leavers. The key principles of its work are to:

• Defend the UK and its interests
• Strengthen international peace and stability.

The defence budget is set to increase from £32.6 billion in 2007/08 to £36.9 billion in 2010/11. After inflation this represents average annual growth of 1.5%. By 2010/11 the budget will be some 11% higher in real terms than it was in 1997. At least some additional operational costs are paid from the Treasury, an additional £9.5 billion since 2001. To put this into perspective, defence spending is similar to the budget for public order and safety, and is dwarfed by that of social protection, health and education.

Figures for July 2009 showed that there were 85,730 civil servants working in the MoD, compared with an Army strength of 99,000 and 174,000 personnel across all three Services. One in seven of all civil servants works for the MoD.

MoD top level
The Ministry of Defence is headed by the Secretary of State for Defence, a cabinet minister, who is responsible for the formulation and conduct of defence policy. Three Defence Ministers support the Secretary of State:

1. The Minister of State for the Armed Forces is responsible for operational and policy issues affecting the Armed Forces
2. The Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support has responsibility for procurement of defence equipment and defence exports
3. The Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans has responsibility for environmental and regulatory issues, Service and civilian personnel casework, public service matters and veterans’ issues.

These four defence Ministers are accountable to Parliament. Parliament’s role is to approve the level of defence expenditure, and to provide oversight through exposing, advising and holding the government of the day to account for its decisions.

The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the most senior uniformed officer in the UK, professional head of the Armed Forces and principal military adviser to the government. The most senior civil servant in the MoD is the Permanent Under Secretary (PUS), the government’s principal civilian defence adviser with primary responsibility for policy, finance and administration. Neither outranks the other.

The most important committees are the Defence Council and the Defence Management Board. The Defence Council is the senior Departmental Committee. Chaired by the Secretary of State, it provides the formal legal basis for the conduct of defence. The Defence Management Board is the highest non-ministerial committee. It is essentially the ‘Corporate Board’ of the MoD, providing senior-level leadership and strategic management.

The integrated Service and civilian staff (the Central Staff) is responsible for the four fundamental aspects of policy and planning:

1. Strategy and leadership
2. Setting policy
3. Corporate planning and image
4. Setting targets, allocating resources and measuring performance.

The three single Service Chiefs of Staff (First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, the Chief of the General Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff) are members of both the Defence Council and the Defence Management Board. They are part of the top management team, and are also responsible for their own Service’s fighting effectiveness, efficiency and morale.

Functions that are not fundamental parts of the central defence mission are now increasingly being carried out by agencies. The MoD controls the output of these agencies through contractual and other arrangements, but they are generally free to conduct their businesses in the best way possible and to maximise profits from the other – non-MoD business – they obtain.

Feedback to Quest suggests that many Service leavers gain employment in MoD agencies and organisations. The following areas offer the most employment opportunities. Specialists should approach areas of the MoD that offer appropriate jobs for people with their background. The websites at www.mod.uk and the specific employment site at www.civilianjobs.mod.uk are excellent first steps for the job seeker.

Defence Intelligence Staff
The DIS comprises around 4,500 personnel under the command of the Chief of Defence Intelligence. Roles range from intelligence collection and analysis through to less obvious functions such as military map production, and the training of military linguists and photographers. DIS product is widely used to support MoD and government policy making, military operations, crisis management and the generation of military capability, and contributes to the work of the Joint Intelligence Committee – the UK’s national intelligence committee.

Defence Equipment and Support
DE&S equips and supports the Armed Forces for current and future operations. Employing approximately 22,500 people, and with a budget of £13 billion, its headquarters is in Bristol with other sites located across the UK and overseas. It acquires and supports through-life equipment and services ranging from ships, aircraft, vehicles and weapons, to information systems and satellite communications. As well as sustaining ongoing requirements including food, clothing, medical supplies and temporary accommodation, DE&S is also responsible for HM Naval Bases, the joint supply chain and British Forces Post Office (BFPO). It works closely with industry through partnering agreements and private finance initiatives in accordance with the Defence Industrial Strategy to seek and deliver solutions for defence.

Defence Support Group
The DSG is one of the largest defence equipment support providers in the country, with 3,800 personnel dedicated to the core mission of providing high-quality and cost-effective support to the UK Armed Forces. With an annual turnover of more than £200 million, it has the ability to strip, replace, repair, rebuild and assemble equipments ranging from binoculars and small arms through to large aircraft and armoured fighting vehicles, providing the capability to support the air and land systems of the Armed Forces. With a head office in Andover, it has main sites in Bovington, Catterick, Colchester, Donnington, Sealand, Stafford, St Athan, Stirling, Telford and Warminster. Smaller support sites in Aldershot, Bicester, Kinnegar and Sennybridge provide wider geographic coverage. Teams are deployed in other military locations around the UK, as well as supporting operations at home and abroad.

Defence Vetting Agency
The DVA carries out national security checks through a process called vetting. It vets people in the Armed Forces, the MoD civil service, defence contractors, and certain other government departments and organisations. It is based in York and is the UK’s largest government organisation carrying out national security vetting (NSV) on people; it processes around 150,000 NSV checks and clearances a year, which allow people to do sensitive jobs or tasks, or to have access to restricted locations. It also provides a range of vetting services for clients on payment.

MoD Police and Guarding Agency
The MDPGA incorporates two security services within the Ministry of Defence, providing policing and guarding services to the military and civilian defence community. It also contributes to international policing in countries such as Kosovo and Iraq, with a primary role to counter crime and security risks:

• Terrorist attack and the threat of such attacks
• Disruption and disorder caused by protestors
• Theft of key assets
• Major financial fraud.

The MoD Police consists of around 3,500 officers with full constabulary powers, operating at 120 MoD sites throughout the UK, as required, including guarding Britain’s nuclear deterrent. It has five divisional commands, based at York, Aldershot, Aldermaston, Foxhill and Clyde Naval Base, and all officers are weapons trained (at any time 70% of officers on duty carry firearms, either pistols or rifles). Roles include:

• Armed security
• Uniformed policing
• Crime investigation
• Defence policing policy
• International policing.

The MoD Guard Service provides unarmed guarding services for personnel and property. Its workforce of 4,089 officers is based at 221 locations, sometimes alongside Mod Police. It has a headquarters at Wethersfield in Essex, and six regions, each with their own management and support structures, at Clyde Naval Base, York, Shrewsbury, London, Bath and Aldershot.

People, Pay and Pensions Agency
The PPPA aims to provide an integrated set of simplified, standardised HR services to MoD employees and managers, based around employment and management issues. Its services are also offered to non-MoD customers. It employs 1,100 staff at three main sites (two in Bath and one in Cheadle Hulme), and has staff deployed throughout the UK and Europe. Annually it administers 1 million salary payments, 55,000 pension awards, 555,000 expenses claims, 10,000 internal recruitments, 750,000 enquiries and 500,000 absence reports.

Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
SPVA provides personnel administration services, and accurate payment of pay, allowances and pensions to the serving and veteran communities. This is through pay and pension services to military personnel and through the Armed Forces Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme to veterans. It is responsible for the delivery of a tri-Service administration system, known as Joint Personnel Administration, planned to harmonise and simplify personnel and pay administration for 285,000 Regular and Reserve personnel and 365,000 Armed Forces pensioners.

Veterans Policy Unit
The VPU is responsible for many veterans projects and policy issues including ex-Service homelessness, legacy health issues, veterans awareness events, commemorative booklets, war graves and education. It also addresses health concerns of veterans from:

• The 1990–1991 Gulf Conflict
• The Porton Down Volunteer testing programme from 1950 to 1970
• The UK Atmospheric Nuclear Testing Programme from 1950 to 1960
• Recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whole Fleet Management
A tri-Service project, WFM will enhance the operational readiness of vehicle and equipment fleets and their more efficient use, using approaches including:
 

• Development of training pools within the active fleet to facilitate collective training requirements
• Reduced unit holdings
• The establishment of active and stored fleets of vehicles and equipment
• Controlled humidity environment (CHE) for improved storage
• New information systems to provide asset and engineering data.

All the above agencies, and a host of smaller ones, are major employers of Service leavers. Jobs may be direct employment as a civil servant, as a contractor with the organisation or as an employee with some form of public/private partnership. Like other employment areas, agencies have core business that they will generally retain under their direct control, and support functions that they will tend to outsource to a contractor.

All employment vacancies have to be widely advertised and have a generous application period. All applications go through a time- and staff-consuming process from job description to appointment through sifts and interviews; all to ensure absolute legal and ethical fairness. Applicants may need referees, as well as medical and security checks. Many vacancies will also be advertised locally and in JobCentres.

The Career Transition Partnership is working with government departments towards developing tailored pathways to public-sector careers for Service leavers. It has already have developed new working or enhanced existing relationships, leading to job opportunities with agencies including MoD Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) and the People, Pay & Pensions Agency (PPPA). See www.ctp.org.uk for more information: click on the link ‘Public-sector careers’.