§ Mr. HardyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many serving men and women in each of the armed forces have volunteered for redundancy during 1995; and what proportion of the total strength of each of the armed forces each of these numbers represents. [5038]
§ Mr. SoamesApplicants from Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel have totalled some 3,800 and from RAF personnel some 11,540 during 1995, representing respectively 7.7 per cent. and 16.7 per cent. of total strength at 1 October 1995. The number of applicants has exceeded the requirement by about 1,400 and 2,940 respectively.
718WInformation on the total number of Army applicants is not available. Of the total applicants, the number selected is 234, which is 0.2 per cent. of the Army's strength at 1 October 1995. The Army does not now envisage making more than about 280 redundancies, compared with the 500 previously announced.
In each service some selection of non-applicants has been or will be necessary in order to preserve balance within particular ranks and specialisations.