§ Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of Service personnel eligible to vote during the years 1974 and 1975, respectively, completed the necessary registration forms enabling them to do so.
§ Mr. DuffyInformation in the form the hon. Gentleman requires is not available. When the 1974 and 1975 electoral registers were compiled, there were approximately 351,000 and 341,000 United Kingdom Service personnel, respectively, who were of voting age. For these registers 99,519 and 120,312 persons, respectively, made Service declarations. Service declarants, however, include not only Service personnel, but also their spouses and staff of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Government Departments serving overseas. I regret that it is not possible to identify the number of Service personnel separately from the other groups.