§ Mr. Goodhartasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the various Royal Navy regular and volunteer reserves and give their strength by categories as estimated for 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1975.
§ Dr. David OwenThe main categories of the regular and volunteer reserves of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines with their estimated strengths in 1969 are as follows:
Regular Reserve Royal Fleet Reserve: Ratings and other ranks 3,500 Voluntary Reserves Royal Naval Reserve: Officers 3,395 Ratings 3,560 Royal Marines Reserve: Officers 110 Other ranks 900 Women's Royal Naval Reserve: Officers 118 Ratings 835 The strength of the Royal Fleet Reserve is expected to rise to 5,000 in 1971 and to remain at about this level in 1973 and 1975. The strengths of the Voluntary Reserves in 1971, 1973 and 1975 are not expected to vary substantially from the 1969 figures.
In addition to these categories, there is a large pool of officers on the Retired List and Emergency List, and also of R.N. ratings and R.M. other rank pensioners. These will total some 23,000 in 1969. Numbers fluctuate from year to year but are not forecast for later years.