Around 232,200 Service people have now signed up for Enhanced Learning Credits (ELCs). Since the scheme started, more than 19,295 claims, amounting to just over £16 million have been processed and paid to support the personal development of our Servicemen and women.

Many of the people we are now recruiting are self-starters, looking to learn - people who will continue to learn in their own time. Our education system now accommodates this learning through accreditation of military courses, sometimes with some extra work to get the qualification, with ELCs being one of the building blocks in place for people to access higher education.

We are also providing education for recruits who need to improve their literacy or numeracy abilities, including assessing for dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties. I suspect that the emphasis on lifelong learning will benefit the nation in the medium to long term as Service leavers bring better skills and qualifications to the civil work market. The ELC scheme offers a win-win-win situation: the individual has the opportunity to develop, the Services gain from it, and so does the nation.

Everything must be focused on operational capability. The training pipeline does not finish at the end of basic training: at its far end are operations. Ultimately, all training and development must link to that end. Personal development is part of this: it sees personnel better qualified to meet the Services' needs, and it helps motivate and retain quality people who are key to our operational capability.