This agency has two major elements, The Ministry of Defence Police and the Ministry of Defence Guarding Agency:

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE POLICE (MDP)

The MDP has its headquartered at Wethersfield, in Essex, and is deployed across the British Isles at over 100 MoD sites from Culdrose in Cornwall to the Clyde in Scotland. Organised into five divisional commands, with headquarters at York, Aldershot, Aldermaston, Foxhill and the Clyde Naval Base, the personnel total is approximately 3,400.

The majority of MDP tasks are security orientated and include the security of military bases, protecting against the sabotage of assets and the threat of terrorist incursion. At the same time the MDP has a role as a civilian police force creating a safe crime free environment. The MDP is supported by a number of specialist units that include the largest fraud squad in the UK, marine units that are equipped with a large number of amphibious craft, over 400 police dogs, a special escort group and a multi-capability operational support unit.

During early 2011 it was announced that the MDP had established a Defence Crime Board, to provide strategic direction to the defence-wide effort to reduce the harm done to the defence budget, safety, security and military operational capability by crime and fraud.

All MDP officers are trained in the use of firearms and at any one time about 70% of MDP officers on duty will be armed.

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE GUARD SERVICE

The Ministry of Defence Guard Service (MGS) is the uniformed, unarmed element forming part of the larger Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency. The Ministry of Defence Guard Service was formed into a corporate structure as part of the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency in April 2004. The MGS has a personnel total of around 3,900 personnel who are located at over 200 locations across the UK. There are six regional headquarters locations at Aldershot, Bath, Clyde Naval Base, London, Shrewsbury and York.

The Training Centre is at Weathersfield in Essex.

The forecast cost of the MGS for FY2010-2011 was £112 million.

Military Corrective Training Centre (MCTC)

The MCTC takes servicemen and women who have been sentenced to periods of detention from 14 days to two years. The vast majority are serving periods of detention to which they have been sentenced by court martial or after summary hearing by their commanding officers. Most detainees have offended against Armed Forces law rather than criminal law, and few are committed for offences that would have resulted in custody had they been in civilian life.

All detainees are held in accordance with rules determining committal to custody within the Armed Forces Act 2006.

Staff at the MCTC are draw mainly from the Military Provost Staff Corps (MPSC) with representatives from the other services.