§ Mr. BrazierTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the armed forces are from the ethnic minorities, broken down into percentage figures for(a) officers and (b) other ranks for each of the following categories (i) RN/RM, (ii) Regular Army, (iii) RAF, (iv) RNR/RMR, (v) Territorial Army and (vi) RAAF. [35552]
§ Dr. ReidThe latest available figures show that at 1 January 1998, personnel from the ethnic minorities represented about 1 per cent. of the total Regular Armed Forces strength. Ethnic minorities represented: 0.94 per cent. officers and 0.72 per cent. other ranks in the Naval Service; 0.94 per cent. officers and 1.05 per cent. other ranks in the Army; and 1.12 per cent. officers and 1.27 per cent. other ranks in the RAF. No information is collected at present about the number of people from ethnic minorities in any of the Reserve Forces. I hope, however, to be able to make an announcement shortly about the introduction of ethnic monitoring among the Reserve Forces.