§ Mr. Litterickasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Armed Forces are trained to a level sufficient to merit being classified as "skilled manual" in civilian life.
§ Mr. William RodgersThe term "skilled manual" is not easily applied to Service tradesmen, who are often trained for jobs which have no exact counterpart in civilian life. By agreement some trades unions and professional bodies recognise Service men with certain technical qualifications as eligible for admission on leaving the Armed Forces. About 54,000 Service men have such qualifications.