§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people applied to join the(a) Army and (b) Naval Service and (c) Royal Air Force in each of the past five years; and how many of those were accepted. [80976]
§ Dr. MoonieThe number of people who applied for and joined the armed forces since 1 April 1998 are as follows:
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–031 Naval Service Applications 14,858 14,805 14,694 13,975 7,097 Intake 4,770 4,950 4,620 5,013 2,470 Army Applications 41,389 42,498 33,332 38,929 20,655 Intake 16,267 16,480 14,410 14,782 8,670 RAF Applications 22,393 21,572 20,689 19,453 9,126 Intake 4,250 4,100 3,630 3,783 2,060 1 Figures for 2002–03 show the position as at 30 September 2002.