§ Mr. KeetchTo ask Secretary of State for Defence (1) what percentage of premature voluntary retirement applications have been denied for(a) officers and (b) other ranks in all three services in each of the last fiver years; and if he will make a statement; [176111]
604W(2) if he will list the number of (a) officers and (b) other ranks who (i) applied for premature voluntary retirement and (ii) had their applications accepted in each of the last three years, broken down by regiment; and if he will make a statement. [176745]
§ Mr. CaplinData on applications for Premature Voluntary Release (PVR) are published quarterly in the DASA Armed Forces Personnel Statistics publication Tri Service Publication, TSP 5. Copies of the latest publication (1 April 2004 figures) along with back issues are available in the Library of the House. Published data include officers and other ranks and show applications and actual exits for each of the three services, split by gender. The main difference between the number of applications for PVR and the number of actual exits shown in TSP 5 is due to individual applicants choosing to withdraw their applications whilst serving their notice, not due to applications being refused. PVR rates broken down by regiment are not held centrally and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.
It is not possible to provide the information requested on those requests for PVR that have been denied as all such information is not held centrally and again could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Generally, denials are possible but are very rare and a deferral of the proposed leaving date is the more usual course of action.