HC Deb 14 July 1997 vol 298 cc54-5W
34. Mr. Sheerman

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current training capacity of the British armed forces. [6540]

Mr. Reid

The three services compile their training data in different ways and comprehensive and comparable figures are, therefore, not available. However, the following is a guide to the current training capacity for Financial Year 1997–98Royal Navy and Royal Marines 3,428,000 student training days; Army 4,040,298 student training days; Royal Air Force

  1. (a) Flying Training—aircrew (all types) 2,129 student places on a variety of different courses.
  2. (b) Ground Training—Around 35,000 student places on some 700 different types of course.

The figures given are for individual training to ensure that our people are fully equipped to meet the tasks placed upon them. They do not include collective continuation training, which is an ongoing requirement to maintain operational effectiveness. The training requirement is carefully planned to allow for flexibility without wastage and is being met through the single service training agencies and by some tri-service defence schools.