§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the UK Regular Forces' (i) trained strength and (ii) trained requirement in(a) 2005, (b) 2010 and (c) 2015. [123979]
§ Mr. SpellarThe long-term aim is to bring the overall trained strength into balance with the trained requirement. By 1 April 2005, both the Naval Service and the Army expect to have achieved this, with their trained requirements anticipated to be about 38,500 and 105,232 respectively. The RAF's forecast trained strength at 1 April 2005 is expected to be about 50,400, against the forecast trained requirement of 50,900.
Although the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) looked into the future as far as 2015, it is not possible to predict, beyond 2005, the detail of the future framework, owing to the changing nature of the international security environment.