§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many recruits were taken into the Army in each of the last five years; and how many of them were included in a recognised trade apprenticeship scheme, giving figures trade by trade.
§ Mr. GoodhartIn 1980–81, there were 25,956 Service men recruited to the Army, of whom 1,976 were apprentices. Figures for the previous four years are published in the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1981, Volume 2, Table 4.10—Cmnd. 8212-II.
It is not possible to identify from central records the numbers of individual apprentice recruits who entered specific trades, other than by the broad categories of technician and crafts appropriate to Arms and Services. These details are:
Apprentice Recruitment Apprentice Technicians Arm-craft Apprentices Total 1976–77 298 1,374 1,672 1977–78 235 1,405 1,640 1978–79 257 1,305 1,562 1979–80 353 1,272 1,625 1980–81 406 1,570 1,976