§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Armed Forces were permitted to purchase their discharge prior to the termination of their engagement with Her Majesty's Forces in 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970 and 1969 respectively.
§ Mr. Robert C. Brown, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 24th October 1975; Vol. 898, c. 305], gave the following information:
The numbers of Service women who purchased their premature voluntary release from the Armed Forces are as follows:
1969 127 1970 163 1971 150 1972 113 1973 158 1974 119 Except for the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) these figures exclude Service women leaving as of right in their first few months of service. In the case of the WRAC it has not been possible to separate this group for the years 1969 to 1973. The figures for Service women are not, therefore, strictly comparable with those for Service men, though the numbers involved are very small.