HC Deb 12 March 1996 vol 273 cc507-8W
Mr. Spellar

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Army regiments are currently at their full establishment level; and what is the percentage shortfall in each of the other regiments. [19817]

Mr. Soames

The 9th/12th Lancers, The Corps of Royal Engineers, the Highlanders, the Kings Regiment, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment, The Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps are currently manned to their full establishment of soldiers. The percentage surplus or shortfall of soldiers against establishment on 1 February 1996 is shown for each regular army regiment and corps in the table. Officer manning is generally satisfactory with a small surplus.

Regiment/Corps Percentage shortfall/ surplus
The Household Cavalry -9.1
The Queen's Dragoon Guards -5.0
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards -6.9
The Royal Dragoon Guards -11.5
The Queen's Royal Hussars -11.8
The 9th/12th Lancers +44.3
The King's Royal Hussars -10.5
The Light Dragoons -1.8
The Queen's Royal Lancers -2.8
1st Royal Tank Regiment -9.0
2nd Royal Tank Regiment -3.5
The Royal Regiment of Artillery -7.7
Corps of Royal Engineers +.2
The Royal Corps of Signals -4.7>
The Grenadier Guards -2.3
The Coldstream Guards -2.1
The Scots Guards -9.5
The Irish Guards -5.3
The Welsh Guards -8.5
The Royal Scots -10.7
The Royal Highland Fusiliers -13.8
The King's Own Scottish Borderers -7.0
The Black Watch -12.3
The Highlanders +2.3
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders -16.6
The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment -13.6
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers -5.9
The Royal Anglian Regiment -7.6
The King's Own Royal Border Regiment -7.1
The King's Regiment +4.5
The Prince of Wales' s Own Regiment of Yorkshire -7.2
The Green Howards -4.8
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment -7.1
The Duke of Wellington's Regiment +4.2
The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment -1.6
The Cheshire Regiment -7.8
The Royal Welch Fusiliers -7.6
The Royal Regiment of Wales -11.9
The Gloucester Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment +3.0
The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment –1.1
The Staffordshire Regiment -7.2
Regiment/Corps Percentage shortfall/ surplus
The Light Infantry -7.6
The Royal Green Jackets -16.0
The Royal Irish Regiment -10.2
The Parachute Regiment -18.0
The Brigade of Gurkhas -1.2
The Army Air Corps -8.3
The Royal Logistic Corps -2.6
The Royal Army Medical Corps -1.3
Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers -1.7
The Adjutant General's Corps -2.5
The Intelligence Corps -5.6
Corps of Army Musicians -.1
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps +.5