§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will recruit more Gurkhas into the British Army to bring the force up to operational strength. [100429]
§ Mr. SpellarIt is already planned that to alleviate under-manning we have extended the Gurkha Reinforcement Companies and are introducing a second Gurkha Engineer Squadron and a second Gurkha Signals Squadron. There are 3,500 Gurkhas serving with the British Army and this represents the optimum to alleviate under-manning in the short term while taking account of excess manpower when we revert to full manning.