§ 31. Gillian MerronTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has for promoting careers in the armed forces to young people. [8382]
§ Mr. IngramWe have many initiatives aimed at promoting and encouraging young people to consider a career in the Armed Services. Each Service has school presentation teams, and about 1,000 schools are visited each year. Each Service also deploys Recruiting 513W Presentation Teams who, together with armed forces Careers Office staff, visit schools, careers fairs, exhibitions, youth clubs and organisations and other events. We estimate that over 10,500 visits are undertaken each year. The Services also offer direct work experience to young people through a variety of courses and visits to Service establishments and ships. We aim to offer anyone considering a service career the chance to take a closer look. Armed forces recruiting includes the use of a dedicated careers website for each of the Services. These are proving to be very successful. All these initiatives are supplemented by continued multi-media advertising campaigns.
We intend to expand this effort by increasing the number of schools presentation teams, appointing a schools adviser in the Ministry of Defence, setting up a schools page on our website and developing material for teachers and pupils. All of this will be linked in to the curricula.