FAIR DEAL IN DEFENCE CAMPAIGN

That this House notes that civilian staff working in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have been subject to a programme of job cuts and voluntary redundancy schemes since the Strategic Defence and Security Review and Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010 and that this process has cut the number of employees in the MoD by over 20,000 so far; further notes that this has left MoD civilian staff still working in the department with an additional workload; welcomes the fact that Unite and the Public and Commercial Services Union signed an agreement on 22 May 2012 calling for a Fair Deal in Defence which focuses on civilian staff working in the MoD; further notes that the campaign calls on MoD management to agree and sign up to five key pledges on job security, no further privatisation, openness and meaningful consultations from management, staff surpluses being properly managed and a UK living wage for all working in the MoD and on private defence contracts; and calls on the Secretary of State for Defence to support these pledges and in dialogue with the unions to take forward working conditions of civil servants in defence.