HC Deb 07 February 1968 vol 758 cc142-3W
133. Sir T. Beamish

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the annual recruiting and re-engagement figures, including

1964 1965 1966 1967
RECRUITING (MEN ONLY)
Royal Navy and Royal Marines … 7,964 7,656 7,463 7,244
Army … 30,388 25,743 25,788 21,472
Royal Air Force … 4.638 6,307 7,214 7,168
RE-ENGAGEMENT (MEN ONLY)
Royal Navy and Royal Marines
To 9 years … 9 1 — —
14 years … 790 831 898 996
22 years … 1,513 1,704 1,876 1,725
Others … 327 290 393 385
Army
To 6 years … 47 33 28 20
9 years … 4,622 3,524 4,105 4,191
15 years … 2,342 2,334 2,683 3,288
22 years … 445 374 447 707
Others … 4,366 4,402 4,967 5,833
Royal Air Force
To less than 5 years … 1 — — —
5–8 years … 38 21 22 26
9 or over (other than to 22 years or over) … 735 1,566 1,495 1,885
Re-engagement of pension … 1,855 1,534 2,519 2,225
Re-engaged personnel … 20 35 46 52
Re-engaging for a further period.

134. Sir T. Beamish

asked the Secretary of State for Defence by how many man years recruiting and re-engagement figures for all three services, shown separately, fell short in 1967 of the 1966 figures; what estimate he has made of the trend this year; and to what extent his plans for the future are based on a continued downward trend.

Mr. Reynolds:

In 1967 the figures for recruiting fell short of the 1966 figures by 1,883 man years for the Royal Navy (including Royal Marines), 35,724 for the Army and 982 for the Royal Air Force. The complications of the Services' engagement systems make similar figures for re-engagement meaningless. A, regards, the future, I have nothing to add at the moment to my right hon. Friend's speech of 25th January.—[Vol. 757, c. 620.]