§ 24. Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) men and (b) women in the armed forces are at present undertaking training which will lead to a formal qualification. [49600]
§ Dr. ReidFormal qualifications are taken to mean civilian qualifications. The information requested is not held centrally by my Department and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, considerable numbers of Service personnel are studying for a variety of civilian qualifications at any given time.
Additionally, a large and growing proportion of Service training is now accredited by civilian award bodies.
As part of the Strategic Defence Review and our `Policy for People', our new 'Learning Forces' initiative will make further improvements to education and training provision in the Armed Forces, helping Service personnel to gain recognised qualifications.