HC Deb 16 March 1978 vol 946 cc311-2W
Mr. Adley

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Written Answer on 1st March Official Report c. 283–4, why the number of serving Royal Air Force personnel seeking premature retirement has almost doubled, from 2.8 per cent. of trained strength in 1974–75, to 5.3 per cent. in 1977–78; and if he will make a statement.

given below. The provision of further details would involve disproportionate effort.

Mr. Wellbelowed

It is not possible to draw definite conclusions from a comparison of one year with another. More requests for premature voluntary release (PVR) can generally be approved when manpower requirements are falling (see Table 1 Annex G of the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1978). The total number of requests will have been affected by the existence of the financially more advantageous arrangements for leaving under the redundancy schemes announced in the Statement on the Defence Estimates, 1975, Chapter 1, para. 67. A variety of personal factors, including financial ones, have been referred to in many of the present applications for PVR.