§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence which service bands (a) have been and (b) are to be disbanded or amalgamated; and what changes are taking place in the individual size of the continuing bands.
§ Mr. LeeThe following service bands have been disbanded since 1981:
Royal Marines
Band of Flag Officer Naval Air Command
Band of Commando Forces Royal Marines
Army
RMA Sandhurst Band Corps
Royal Artillery (Mounted) Staff Band
Royal Engineers (Aldershot) Staff Band
Royal Army Medical Corps Staff Band
5 Infantry battalion bands: 1 each in the Queen's Regiment, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, The Light Infantry, The Royal Greenjackets, The Parachute Regiment.
(This completes the Army band reductions announced in 1981.)
The Royal Marine band of the Flag Officer, Third Flotilla will be disbanded on 1 April 1987.
As at April 1985 the following changes in the individual size of remaining bands had taken place:
Royal Marines
The band of Her Majesty's Royal Marine Commandos, formerly the band of Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines has been increased to staff band size from 42 to 66 bandsmen.
Army
The following table shows changes in individual bands since 1981:
230W
Name of Band December 1981 Strength April 1985 Strength Life Guards 40 35 Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons 40 35 Grenadier Guards 60 50 Coldstream Guards 60 50
231W
Name of Band December 1981 Strength April 1985 Strength Scots Guards 60 50 Irish Guards 60 50 Welsh Guards 60 50 Royal Artillery Woolwich 35 50 Royal Artillery Alanbrooke 35 35 Royal Engineers Chatham 37 50 Royal Signals 50 50 Royal Tank Regiment Alamein 31 22 Royal Tank Regiment Cambrai 31 22 1 Royal Regiment Fusiliers* 28 Nil 2 Royal Regiment Fusiliers 28 35 3 Royal Regiment Fusiliers 28 35 1 Royal Anglican Regiment 28 22 2 Royal Anglican Regiment 28 22 3 Royal Anglican Regiment 28 22 King's Own Border 28 22 Prince of Wales Own 28 22 Green Howards 28 22 King's Regiment 28 22 1 Royal Irish Rangers 28 22 2 Royal Irish Rangers 28 22 Queen's Lancashire Regiment 28 22 Duke of Wellington's Regiment 28 22 The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment 28 22 22nd Cheshire Regiment 28 22 Royal Welch Fusiliers 28 22 Royal Regiment of Wales 28 22 1st Battalion Glosters 28 22 Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters 28 22 Royal Hampshire Regiment 28 22 Staffordshire Regiment 28 22 Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment 28 22 1 Light Infantry* 28 35 2 Light Infantry 28 35 3 Light Infantry 28 Nil 1 Royal Green Jackets* 28 35 2 Royal Green Jackets 28 Nil 3 Royal Green Jackets 28 35 Royal Tank Regiment Rhine 31 22 Brigade of Gurkhas 60 50 Royal Corps of Transport 43 35 Royal Army Ordnance Corps 31 35 Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 43 35 Women's Royal Army Corps 42 35 Queen's Dragoon Guards 28 22 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards 28 22 4/7th Dragoon Guards 28 22 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards 28 22 Queen's Own Hussars 28 22 Queen's Royal Irish Hussars 28 22 9/12th Royal Lancers 28 22 Royal Hussars 28 22 13/18th Royal Hussars 28 22 14/20th King's Hussars 28 22 15/19th King's Hussars 28 22 16/5th Royal Lancers 28 22 17/21st Royal Lancers 28 22 The Royal Scots 28 22 Royal Highland Fusiliers 28 22 King's Own Scottish Borderers 28 22 Black Watch 28 22 Queen's Own Highlanders 28 22 Gordons 28 22 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 28 22 1 Queen's* 28 35 2 Queen's 28 Nil 3 Queen's 28 35 1 Para* 28 35 2 Para 28 35 3 Para 28 Nil No further reductions or amalgamations are planned.
* Colonel of Regiment chose the option of two larger bands rather than three smaller bands.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the present number of bands and strength of the band service for each of the Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force; what is the planned further reduction in bands and men in each case; and what were the figures in
At December 1981 At April 1985 At April 1987 (completion of band reductions) Bands Band Personnel Bands Band Personnel Bands Band Personnel Royal Marines 10 464 8 404 7 382 Army 78 2,531 69 1,991 69 1,991 Royal Air Force 6 273 6 *266 6 272 * Reflects losses following RAF Band accident in Germany.