§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the numbers of servicemen who have left at each stage after initial recruitment and before being added to trained strength in each of the last five years. [31483]
§ Mr. IngramThe information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Those details which are available are set out in the following table. This shows the actual numbers who left during initial recruitment training and this number as a percentage of those who started training. The wastage rates quoted include voluntary withdrawal, medical discharge, discharge by purchase and discharge Services No Longer Required.
For the Royal Air Force, the IST wastage rates in the table refer to Officers in the ground branches and do not take into account pilots, navigators and aircrew. Training for these groups can take many years and so final wastage rates for these years are not readily available. I will write to the hon. Member with full details of RAF Officer IST wastage rates and I will place a copy in the Library of the House.
595W1 All figures for 2001–02 cover the period up to 31 December 2001.
Royal Navy
2 RN recruits join the trained strength after completing Phase 1 and Phase 2 training. Phase 1 training is one year for officers and eight weeks for ratings. Phase 2 training averages around 18 months for officers (but up to five years for Aircrew), three years for Artificer Apprentices and eight months for non-technical ratings.
Royal Marines
3 The figures for RM Officers show the wastage rates while undergoing Phase 1 training at CTCRM Lympstone. No figures are available for failures in Phase 2 training; failures during this nine months phase are rare.
4 The majority of the RM Other Ranks training wastage consists of those who voluntarily withdraw (historically approximately 65 per cent. of the wastage figure) the remainder being split between those who are unsuitable and those who are medically discharged.
Army
5 Army Officers are considered to have joined the trained strength after leaving Sandhurst when they become part of the UK Trained Army Personnel. Consolidated figures are available only from 1998–99. Soldiers join the trained strength on completion of their Phase 2 trade training. Full details of the number of soldiers who left during initial training are available only from 2000–01.
Royal Air Force
6 RAF Officers, on completion of Initial Officer Training (IOT) which last for 24 weeks, go on to Initial Specialist Training (IST). No IOT or IST wastage rates figures are available yet for 2001–02.
7 The OST wastage rates in the table refer to Officers in the ground branches and do not take into account pilots, navigators and aircrew. Training for these groups can take many years and so final wastage rates for these years are not readily available.
8 Airmen/airwomen join the trained strength after completion of both recruit training (Phase 1) and trade training (Phase 2). Recruit training is seven weeks. Trade training averages around 40 weeks and can last anything up to two years for specific trades. The percentage figures quoted for trade training wastage in years 2000–01 and 2001–02 give the position as at 31 December 2001; at this date there were still 755 to complete training started in 2000–01 and 1,832 airmen/airwomen who have started in 2001–02.