§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Defence, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Ynys Môn on 6 March, Official Report, column 264–65, if he will give the manpower shortage of (a) officers and (b) other ranks, both numerically and as a percentage of the whole in (i) the Royal Armoured Corps, (ii) the Royal Artillery, (iii) the seaman branch of the Royal Navy and (iv) the Royal Marines.
§ Mr. LeeFor security reasons I am not able to give numerical details of the level of any under or over-manning in particular areas of the services. However, the percentage shortfall-excess against the trained requirement for the crops and branches in question is as follows:
208W
Officers per cent. Other ranks per cent. Royal Armoured Corps -2.8 +2.2 Royal Artillery -4.2 +1.4 Royal Naval Seaman Officers -2.2 — Royal Naval Ratings—Operations Branch — -0.4 Royal Marines -3.9 -2.7 Notes :
1. The figures all relate to 31 December 1985, except for the Royal Marines, which relate to I December 1985.
2. There is no "Seaman Branch" for Royal Naval ratings. The figures shown are for the "Operations Branch", which is broadly equivalent to the seaman specialisation for officers.