§ Mr. David EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement about planned redundancies in the Army.
§ Mr. HanleyAs indicated in my answer to the hon. and learned Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) on 20 July 1993,Official Report, column 191, the Army invited applications from volunteers for the third phase of its redundancy programme which implements the reduction in the size of the Army under proposals first announced in 1990. These applications have now been considered against the requirement to achieve the required size of the Army for the nineties while retaining the right age and skill structure for the future, taking account of the manpower addback announced by the Secretary of State on 1 December last year. A total of 720 officers and 6,295 soldiers have now been selected for redundancy in 1994–95. Some 85 per cent. of these have volunteered for redundancy, but it will be necessary to select 142 officers and 953 soldiers for compulsory redundancy. All those selected for redundancy will be notified on 24 February 1994.