HC Deb 27 January 2000 vol 343 cc224-5W
Mr. Stephen Twigg

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the armed forces were(a) registered disabled, (b) women, (c) from ethnic minorities and (d) from (i) independent, (ii) grammar and (iii) other schools in (1) 1970, (2) 1979, (3) 1989 and (4) 1999. [106760]

Mr. Spellar

The information requested is as follows:

  1. (a) disabled people; I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given to the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on 12 January 1998, Official Report, column 132W, and the hon. Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key) on 23 July 1999, Official Report, columns 694–95W.
  2. (b) women; The percentage of serving women in the Armed Forces, as at 1 April for each of the years requested, were:
    3. Percentage
    1970 3.80
    1979 4.86
    1989 5.22
    1999 7.74
  3. (c) ethnic minorities; In my reply to the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson) on 21 July 1997, Official Report, column 400W, I stated that a new management-led, self-classification survey of the ethnic origin of serving personnel was introduced in July 1996. I also stated that prior to that date, records could not be relied on. On 1 April 1999, 1.1 per cent. of the Armed Forces were from ethnic minorities.
  4. (d) education backgrounds; The information is not available in the form requested. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) on 10 January 2000, Official Report, columns 89–90W, which gave an estimated breakdown of the education background of Army officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for each of the last five financial years. With regard to the Naval Service and the RAF, an estimated breakdown of the education background of the officers accepted for training (by percentage) for each of the last financial years (where known) is:
    5. Percentage
    Independent State Others
    Naval Service
    1994–95 29 71 n/k
    1995–96 20 80 n/k
    1996–97 24 76 n/k
    1997–98 25 73 2
    1998–99 22 75 3

Percentage
Independent State Others
RAF
1994–95 27 73 n/k
1995–96 23 77 n/k
1996–97 20 80 n/k
1997–98 n/k n/k n/k
1998–99 n/k n/k n/k

Note:

Since 1997–98, the RAF no longer record the type of secondary school that officer candidates have attended, but only the last educational establishment that they had been to which, in most cases, is a university or other college.

The education background of serving other ranks is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.