§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to recruit more people from Commonwealth countries to the armed forces. [10066]
§ Mr. IngramRecruitment into the armed forces is open to British and Commonwealth citizens, and Republic of Ireland nationals. The Services do not actively promote armed forces careers in Commonwealth countries. Selection and recruitment teams visit those Commonwealth countries where the number of expected applicants justify the effort, and where an invitation to conduct visits has been received from the Government in question.
Negotiations are currently under way for the next, annual tri-Service recruiting mission to the UK Dependent Territory of St. Helena to take place in June 2002 in
Countries Military personnel Northern Ireland some 13,500 Kosovo (including supporting elements in the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece some 3,200 Bosnia (including support elements in Croatia and Italy some 1,750 Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) 4 Cyprus some 3,600 (including some 400 supporting UN operations) Falkland Islands some 1,200 Gibraltar some 400 Sierra Leone some 400 personnel on the ground (including around 20 members of the UN operation) Middle East countries in support of UN Security Resolutions in respect of Iraq some 950 We provide support to the UN operations in:
We also maintain patrols by our ballistic nuclear deterrent submarines.
- Kuwait: 11
- East Timor: 4
- The Democratic Republic of Congo: 5
- Georgia: 7.
In addition, we have been providing around 4,200 personnel in support of the coalition against international terrorism, based in the theatre and in the US.
Operational codewords, when linked to their meaning, are classified, and I am withholding this information in accordance with clause la of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.