§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the military personnel wastage rates for(a) Royal Navy (i) officers and (ii) other ranks, (b) Army (i) officers and (ii) other ranks and (c) Royal Air Force (i) pilot officers, (ii) non-pilot officers and (iii) other ranks for each of the years 1995–96,1996–97, 1997–98 and 1998–99 to date; [71930]
(2) how his Department defines military personnel wastage. [71929]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonMilitary personnel wastage is defined as all outflow of trained personnel. This is usually expressed as a rate which is calculated by taking the total outflow of all trained personnel during a period as a proportion of the average number of trained personnel in the period.
The wastage rates in the Armed Forces in the years from 1995–96 to 1997–98 and the current financial year are as follows:
32W
Percentage Total PVR1 Redundancies2 Retirements3 Other exits4 Naval Service Officers 1995–96 8.0 1.5 1.3 4.7 0.5 1996–97 11.8 1.9 5.1 4.1 0.7 1997–98 7.3 2.5 0.0 4.2 0.5 1998–995 6.6 2.4 0.0 3.7 0.5 Naval Service Other Ranks 1995–96 9.2 3.6 1.1 3.1 1.4 1996–97 14.2 5.2 4.1 3.3 1.6 1997–98 10.4 5.1 0.0 3.5 1.8 1998–995 11.0 5.5 0.0 3.3 2.2 Army Officers 1995–96 8.4 2.7 0.6 4.5 0.5 1996–97 7.8 2.9 0.6 3.3 0.9 1997–98 7.5 3.6 0.0 3.5 0.4 1998–995 8.9 4.5 0.0 3.8 0.5 Army Other Ranks 1995–96 12.2 7.3 0.1 2.5 2.3 1996–97 11.2 6.8 0.1 2.0 2.3 1997–98 10.9 6.7 0.0 1.8 2.3 1998–995 11.4 6.9 0.0 2.1 2.4 RAF Pilot Officers 1995–96 8.9 1.2 3.1 4.0 0.6 1996–97 11.3 1.5 4.5 5.1 0.2 1997–98 7.7 2.8 0.0 4.6 0.3 1998–995 9.0 2.5 0.0 5.9 0.6 RAF Non-Pilot Officers 1995–96 10.3 1.5 4.2 4.0 0.5 1996–97 12.7 1.9 6.3 4.1 0.4 1997–98 5.3 2.0 0.0 3.0 0.3 1998–995 5.8 2.7 0.0 2.7 0.3 RAF Other Ranks 1995–96 12.6 3.3 4.3 4.3 0.7 1996–97 18.0 3.1 9.5 4.6 0.7 1997–98 8.2 3.6 0.0 3.8 0.8 1998–995 8.7 4.3 0.0 3.8 0.6 1 PVR—Premature Voluntary Release. This includes those personnel who left the Services because of pregnancy and due to marriage. 2 Redundancies include both voluntary and compulsory redundancies. 3 Retirements refer to personnel who have either reached the end of their commission or the end of their engagement in their Service. 4 Other exits include deaths, medical discharges, those personnel whose services are no longer required and compassionate release. 5 For the 1998–99 financial year, the wastage rates have been estimated by taking the number of exits from 1 April-31 December 1998 and multiplying by a factor of 4/3, and dividing by the average trained strength in this period. This takes into account the fact that the number of exits during 1998–99 is for a nine-month period; the other financial years given here are for twelve-month periods.
The rates given for the Naval Service include all personnel who were serving in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service.
The rates given for the Army exclude those serving in the Gurkhas and those who were serving in the Royal Irish Regiment.
Those personnel serving in Bosnia as mobilised reservists during these periods have also been excluded.
The total wastage percentages given in the answer may not necessarily be the same as the sum of the individual wastage percentages due to rounding.