§ Lady HermonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have been recruited to the Territorial Army in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years; what steps he is taking to increase these figures; and if he will make a statement. [134827]
§ Mr. CaplinThe number of people recruited into the Territorial Army (TA) in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years are shown in the following table.
1 April to 31 March Officers Soldiers 1998–99 30 297 1999–2000 45 272 2000–01 33 279 2001–02 42 235 2002–03 39 218 2003–04 to date 24 153 TA recruiting is a continual process throughout the year and is generally conducted geographically by local TA centres. A local TA recruiting campaign has recently been run, supplementing the national radio, television and internet recruiting campaigns. This involved open days in the TA Centres following advertisements placed 328W in the local press and on the radio. Considerable interest was generated from potential recruits, which included approximately 100 inquiries emanating from the North Down Constituency.