§ Dr. David Owenasked the Minister of State for Defence if he is now able to state, for the period 1962 to 1972, how many senior military officers took jobs in industry within two years of leaving the Service; and how many joined firms with a direct contractual relationship with the Ministry of Defence.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourBetween 1962 and 1972 inclusive, 129 applications from492W senior military officers—that is, captain RN, colonel, or group captain and above—to take up appointments in industry are on record as having been approved. This total includes the officers identified in my answer to another Question from the hon. Member on 4th July. I have since discovered two errors in my answer: an admiral of the fleet, who died within six weeks of taking the appointment, should have been included in the list for 1970 and Vickers Ltd. added to the list of firms, and the number of major-generals taking up appointments in 1972 should have been one, and not two. I have written to the hon. Member apologising for these mistakes.
The information necessary to reply to the second part of the Question could not be made available without an excessive expenditure of time and effort.—[Vol. 859, c.147–8.]