HC Deb 16 May 2002 vol 385 cc766-73W
Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many foreign nationals left the British Army in each of the last 10 years broken down by nationality; and what their average length of service was. [55446]

Mr. Ingram

The tables show officer and soldier exits. Nationality at birth is not available on flow data before 1997 so only the last six financial years have been shown. These figures represent those individuals who left the British Army. Calculations have been made using the mean length of service of those personnel at the time they left and are only produced for populations of 10 or more.

Army officers and ODs losses: nationality (at birth) by date of flow
Nationality (at birth) 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Guyana 1
Hong Kong 1
India 2 3 1
Iraq 1
Jordan 1 1
Kenya 1 1 1
Malaysia 1 1 1 2
Malta GC 2 2 4 3 2 2
Morocco 1
Nepal1,2 1
Netherlands 1
New Zealand 3 2 5 3 1
New Zealand islands 2
Nigeria 1 1
Pakistan 1 1
Portugal 1
Republic of Ireland 3 8 4 5 5 6
Rhodesia 1 2 1 3 3 1
South Africa 3 1 4 6 4
Spain 1
Sri Lanka 1
Sweden 1
Tanzania 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1
Zimbabwe 2 1 1
Grand Total 22 31 32 38 31 27
Gurkhas n/a 21 23 18 15 13
1See also Gurkhas
2 The Nepalese officer shown was a member of UK Regular Forces. Gurkha officers that left have been shown separately.

Mean length of service on exit for officers, by nationality at birth
1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Gurkhas 26.00 25.48 27.08 25.38

Note

All other nationalities: the calculation of mean length of service would not be meaningful, i.e. each outflow by nationality and year is less than 10.

Army ranks losses: nationality (at birth) by date of flow
Nationality (at birth) 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
America 3 1 3 2 2 1
American overseas 1
Australia 18 20 17 13 20 16
Austria 1
Bahama islands 1
Bangladesh 1 1 2
Barbados 1 2 2 3
Barbuda (Leeward islands) 1
Belgium 1
Belize 1 1 1 2 1
Brazil 2
Britain/Singapore 1 1
Britcommw/Brit Com 2 2 1
Brunei 1
Canada 10 9 11 16 13 10
Colombia 1
Cyprus 1 1
Denmark 2 1 1
Dominica (Windward islands) 1
Dominican Republic 1
Falkland Islands 1
Fiji 1 1 1 4 15 15
France 1 2
Gambia 1
Germany 3 3 4 2 7 5
Ghana 1 2
Gibraltar 1 1
Greece 1 1
Grenada (Windward islands) 1 2
Guyana 2 1 1 2
Honduras 1

Army ranks losses: nationality (at birth) by date of flow
Nationality (at birth) 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Hong Kong 1 1 1 3 1 2
Hungary 1
India 1 1 3 1 3
Iran 1 1
Iraq 2
Italy 1 1
Jamaica 7 6 5 11 8 18
Kenya 1 3 1
Kiribati 1
Korea south 1
Lebanon 2
Malaysia 1 1
Malta GC 2 1 1 3 2
Mauritania 1
Mauritius 1 1
Monserrat (Leeward islands) 1 1
Morocco 1
Nepal1
Netherlands 1 1 1
New Zealand 9 4 9 5 7 9
New Zealand islands 1 1 1 1 1 3 2
Nigeria 1 1 2
Pakistan 1 4 3
Pakistan West 1 1
Philippines 1
Poland 1 2 1
Portugal 1 1 1
Republic of Ireland 44 34 37 42 35 41
Rhodesia 3 4 5 4 2
Salvador 1 1
Seychelles 1
Sierra Leone 1 3 2
Somalia 1
South Africa 1 11 21 19 21 26
Spain 1 2
Sri Lanka 1
St. Helena 1 2 2 4 1
St. Lucia Island 3 1
St. Vincent Island 1 7 14
Sudan 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland 1
Tanzania 1
Thailand 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1 2 2 4
Turkey 1
Uganda 1 1
West Indies—British 1 2 1
Zambia 1 1 2
Zimbabwe 1 1 1 11 7 14
Stateless 1
Grand Total 120 119 141 167 193 214
Gurkhas n/a 177 217 149 91 209
1See also Gurkhas

Mean length of service on exit for soldiers, by nationality at birth
Financial years
Nationality (at birth) 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Australia 5.39 5.40 5.44 4.81 5.60 4.50
Canada 2.90 5.77 5.81 5.81 6.50
Fiji 0.50 1.83
Jamaica 12.59 3.06
Republic of Ireland 5.75 8.62 9.14 10.14 6.04 7.63
South Africa 7.41 1.64 5.34 2.60 2.08
St. Vincent Island 0.50
Zimbabwe 0.86 2.50
Gurkhas 16.07 16.21 16.87 17.12

Notes:

  1. 1. Mean length of service has only been calculated for those nationalities where 10 or more soldiers left in any one year.
  2. 2. When outflow by nationality and year is less than 10 the calculation of mean length of service would not be meaningful.

Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of state for Defence how many foreign nationals were recruited to serve in the British Army in each of the last 10 Years, broken down by country from which recruited. [55445]

Mr. Ingram

The tables Show officer and soldier intakes. Nationality at birth is not available on intake data

Officers intake by nationality (at birth) financial year 1997–98 to 2001–02
1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Total
America 1 1 2
Australia 4 5 2 8 7 26
Austria 1 1 1 3
Bangladesh 1 1
Barbados 1 1
Belgium 1 1
Bermuda 1 1
Canada 4 1 2 3 10
Denmark 1 1
Fiji 1 2 3
France 1 1
Germany 1 1
Gibraltar 1 1
Guyana 1 1
Hong Kong 2 2
India 1 1 2 1 5
Iran 1 1
Italy 1 1
Jamaica 1 1
Jordan 1 1
Kenya 1 1 1 3
Korea South 1 1
Lebanon 1 1
Malaysia 1 2 1 4
Malta GC 2 2 4
Morocco 1 1
Nepal1 1 1
Netherlands 1 1
New Zealand 1 3 3 2 3 12
New Zealand Islands 1 2 1 4
Nigeria 2 1 3
Pakistan 1 1
Republic of Ireland 3 3 3 3 4 16
Rhodesia 2 1 3
Sierra Leone 2 2
Singapore 1 1
South Africa 2 2 9 7 7 27
Spain 1 1 1 3
Sri Lanka 1 1
Switzerland 1 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1 1
Zimbabwe 2 5 8 1 2 18
Stateless 1 1
Total 22 33 47 36 36 174
1The Nepalese officer shown is a member of UK regular forces. No Gurkha officers are shown as being recruited because they are all promoted from within the ranks.

Soldier intake by nationality (at birth), financial year 1997–98 to 2001–02
1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Total
America 3 1 4
American overseas 1 1
Antigua (Leeward Islands) 1 1 2
Australia 10 17 17 14 8 66
Austria 1 1 2
Bangladesh 1 1 3 4 9
Barbados 4 2 6
Belize 1 3 2 2 8
Bermuda 1 1
Botswana 1 1 2
Brazil 2 2 4

before 1997 so only the last five financial years have been shown. These figures represent those individuals who joined training in the British Army. The actual number 'recruited' could be slightly higher as some decide not to join. This figure is not available from the individual record of service.

Soldier intake by nationality (at birth) financial year 1997–98 to 2001–02
1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Total
Bulgaria 1 1
Cameroon Republic 1 1
Canada 12 20 15 9 15 71
Congo 1 1
Denmark 1 1 2
Dominica (Windward Islands) 1 1
Dominican Republic 2 1 3
Fiji 1 16 315 263 485 1,080
France 1 2 2 2 7
Gambia 2 1 4 10 17
Germany 7 8 7 6 4 32
Ghana 1 15 80 96
Gibraltar 1 1 2
Grenada (Windward Islands) 2 6 8 16
Guyana 2 2 2 1 7
Honduras 1 1 1 3
Hong Kong 1 2 2 1 6
India 1 2 2 3 5 13
Iran 1 1 2
Italy 1 2 1 1 5
Jamaica 2 9 15 49 182 257
Kenya 1 1 2 9 9 22
Libya 1 1
Malawi 1 4 5
Malta GC 1 1 2 1 5
Mauritania 1 1 2
Mauritius 1 1 3 3 8
Mexico 1 1 2
Monserrat (Leeward Islands) 4 1 1 6
Namibia (formerly WS Africa) 1 1 2
Nepal (see Gurkhas)
Netherlands 2 2 4
New Zealand 5 7 3 3 18
New Zealand Islands 1 2 9 6 18
Nigeria 6 10 16
Pacific Islands 1 1 2
Pakistan 1 4 3 8
Pakistan West 1 1
Papua 1 1
Philippines 1 1 2 2 2 8
Poland 1 1
Portugal 1 1
Republic of Ireland 43 27 23 23 8 124
Rhodesia 3 6 9
Romania 1 2 3
Seychelles 1 1 2
Sierra Leone 2 1 2 5 2 12
Singapore 1 1
Somalia 1 1 1 3
South Africa 15 39 53 69 124 300
Spain 1 1 1 3
Sri Lanka 1 1 2
St. Helena 1 12 9 8 30
St. Lucia Island 1 2 4 15 22
St. Vincent Island 179 5 184
Sudan 1 1
Tanzania 1 1
Thailand 1 1 2 3 7
Tongan Islands 1 2 3
Trinidad and Tobago 2 4 15 12 33
Turkey 1 1 2
Uganda 1 1 2
Vietnam South 1 1
Western Samoa 2 2
Yemen 1 1
Zambia 1 3 5 9
Zimbabwe 2 15 20 39 124 200
Stateless 1 1
Total 131 214 528 778 1,166 2,817
Gurkhas 181 230 229 230 230 1,100

Back to