§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the ethnic minorities are now serving in the Household Cavalry; and if he will2W make a statement on the progress that has been made following the investigation into recruitment practices by the Commission for Racial Equality.
§ Mr. SoamesIt is a basic principle of ethnic monitoring in the Army that individual privacy should be maintained and that statistical data should protect that privacy. Ethnic monitoring in the Army does not therefore distinguish the units to which individual soldiers and officers belong. The Commission for Racial Equality investigation is continuing. No findings have yet been notified to my Department.
§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish a table showing(a) the number and (b) percentage of women at each rank in the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force at the latest available date.
§ Mr. SoamesThe information requested, as at 1 October 1994 the latest date for which information is available, is as follows:
Rank Number of women in the rank Percentage of women in the rank Royal Naval Services Commodore 1 2.4 Captain 5 1.4 Commander 16 1.3 Lieutenant Commander 65 2.5 Lieutenant 266 7.5 Sub-Lieutenant 131 10.8 Warrant Officer 9 1.0 Chief Petty Officer 118 1.5 Petty Officer 393 5.4 Leading Rate 985 9.5 Able Rate 1,838 11.0 Ordinary Rate/Junior 279 19.2 Army Brigadier 3 1.5 Colonel 12 2.3 Lieutenant Colonel 45 2.7 Major 180 3.8 Captain 554 12.8 Lieutenant/2nd Lieutenant 366 11.4 Warrant Officer (Class 1) 35 1.9 Warrant Officer (Class 2) 103 2.0 Staff Sergeant 209 3.1 Sergeant 557 4.7 Corporal 1,055 5.6 Lance Corporal 1,229 6.6 Private (Classes 1–3) 1,823 5.3 Private (Class 4)/Junior 696 9.6 Royal Air Force Group Captain 2 0.5 Wing Commander 37 2.9 Squadron Leader 163 4.7 Flight Lieutenant 554 9.0 Flying Officer/Pilot Officer 283 17.1 Warrant Officer 23 1.4 Flight Sergeant/Chief Technician 54 1.1 Sergeant 448 4.5 Corporal 1,037 6.1 Junior Technician/Senior Aircraftwoman/Leading Aircraftwoman 3,568 14.0 Aircraftwoman 143 30.7 This information has been extracted from the quarterly tri-service statistical return, "tri-service personnel statistics 9", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.