§ 15. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what are the latest figures available for the proportions of commissioned officers in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force who were educated in public or private schools; and if he will take steps to make those commissioned in the Armed Forces more socially representative of the population as a whole.
§ Mr. GoodhartAccurate information on the educational background of commissioned officers can be obtained only by checking tens of thousands of individual records. However, surveys of officer entrants into all three Services suggest that the proportion of newly commissioned officers educated at independent schools is broadly similar to the proportion of members of the Cabinet in the last Labour Government who went to fee-paying schools.
§ Mr. RobertsI fully accept the Minister's point, but does he agree that, as only about 7 per cent. of the population is educated in such schools, and since the proportion is much higher among officers in all the Armed Forces, those officers are socially unrepresentative? Does he also agree that that creates a problem, as they are out of touch in many ways with ordinary people, as are the bulk of Tory Members?
§ Mr. GoodhartThe object of the rigorous selection system adopted by all three Services is not to favour a particular social group but to find the best possible leaders.