Regular Commission Boards

HC Deb 31 October 2001 vol 373 cc664-5W

Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the future location and organisation of the regular commission boards. [R] [11270]

Mr. Ingram

The Regular Commission Board (RCB), which is currently based at Westbury in Wiltshire, is part of the Army Training and Recruiting Agency (ATRA). Its role is to select potential officers for entry to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), also part of ATRA.

Historically, the RCB was part of the Directorate of Army Recruiting but in 1998 it was placed under the control of RMAS, as there is clearly a synergy between the selection and training of potential officers.

We have now decided that RCB should be collocated with RMAS as from February 2003. Collocation of the two parts of what is essentially a single operation will further enhance coherence, achieve economies of scale and could enable ATRA to achieve a degree of estate rationalisation. The role and ethos of RCB will not change.