§ 1. Mr. Rhodesasked the Secretary of State for Defence what increase has taken place in recent months in recruiting entrants for the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, from local education authority controlled schools in the north of England; and whether he will make a statement.
§ The Minister of Defence for the Army (Mr. G. W. Reynolds)Twenty-one such candidates were accepted last year from Northern Command, compared with 18 in 1964.
§ Mr. RhodesIs my hon. Friend aware that this improvement, small though it is, will be widely appreciated in the North, and that the broadening of the school and social base from which future Army officers may be drawn will be good for both the schools and the Army, but that a great deal of work still needs to be done in liaison between the schools and the military authorities?
§ Mr. ReynoldsOur team of lecturers in Northern Command visited 400 schools last year in the Northern Command alone, and this seems to have had an effect.