§ Mr. BrazierTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Dr. Goodson-Wickes) of 10 December 1992,Official Report, column 800, if he can now announce further conclusions about personnel numbers in the Royal Air Force.
§ Mr. HanleyAll service manpower requirements, including that of the RAF are kept under continuous review.
Over the next two years, the impact of civilianisation, market testing, developments in technology, economies in the support area and other efficiency measures, will lead to a reduced number of personnel required in the RAF. This reduction is made possible largely because of better use of manpower and resources.
We are taking steps to bring down numbers in line with this changing requirement. In part, this can be done by natural turnover and by reducing recruitment. A number of redundancies will also be required to help adjust imbalances between manpower categories: in certain areas there is a surplus of manpower; in other areas there are shortages. The precise number will remain under review, but we estimate that up to 2,200 redundancies will be sought before 1 April 1995. The majority of these redundancies are attributable to factors which do not affect the operational capability of the service.
The same redundancy terms will apply as for the previous phase of redundancies. Volunteers will now be sought. We hope that, as in the past, the majority of those selected for redundancy will be volunteers.
These arrangements will allow the RAF to reduce its support costs while retaining the ability to meet its operational commitments.