24. Mr. Alan Lee Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will state the current manpower requirement of the RAF and the basis upon which it is calculated.
§ Mr. Wellbeloved86,500 at 1st April 1978.
The requirement for trained manpower in the RAF is based on the number of posts—by rank and branch or trade—considered necessary to carry out the Service's tasks, with a margin to cover non-effectiveness such as that from postgraduate and further training, embarkation and disembarkation leave, hand-over periods and sickness. The trainee requirement is based primarliy on the forecast outflow from the Service of trained personnel, related to the forecast requirement for trained manpower, and takes accounts of the length of training and wastage during training. The trained and trainee requirements together give the manpower requirement.