HC Deb 26 July 2000 vol 354 c677W
Mr. Cox

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the extent of the military overstretch faced by the UK's armed forces. [132696]

Mr. Spellar

The Government remain concerned at the degree of overstretch our armed forces have been subject to due to undermanning and the recent high level of Operational tempo. We are determined to drive this down.

Undermanning as at 1 May 2000 was:

  • The Naval Service—1,016
  • Army—7,968
  • RAF—922.

The RAF is now in broad manning balance; the Naval Service and Army will be on target in 2002 and 2005 respectively.

As at 1 June 2000, the percentage of armed forces personnel committed to operations were:

  • The Naval Service—32.39 per cent.
  • Army—27 per cent.
  • RAF—12.65 per cent.

This is a significant improvement on the position at the height of Kosovo, when, for example, the Army had 47 per cent. of its trained personnel committed to operations.