§ VISCOUNT THURSOasked Her Majesty's Government whether the rate of recruiting of Regular personnel for the three Fighting Services has shown any improvement since the last pay increase, and whether it is possible to give any comparative figures of the rate of recruiting prior to and since the last pay increase.
§ LORD MANCROFTThe new rates of pay have resulted in a valuable increase in the number of Regular recruits for the three Services. The figures for male recruitment during the nine months April to December, 1956, compared with the same period in 1955, are as follows:
April—December, 1955 April—December, 1956 Navy 5,423 5,871 Army 24,712 28,536 R.A.F. 14,383 16,524 Total 44,518 50,931 In the Army and R.A.F. there has also been an improvement in the number of men undertaking initially the longer engagements which the new rates of pay are designed to stimulate. There has also been a marked increase in the number of men prolonging their period of Regular engagement since the introduction of the new rates of pay.
House adjourned at ten minutes before nine o'clock.