§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the periods of office for the last five(a) Chiefs of Defence Staff, and (b) First Sea Lords after 1972. [82366]
§ Mr. IngramThe information requested is set out in the table:
his Department ensures that the sample group asked and who reply are representative of the services as a whole; what the differential response rate is in each service by rank; and if he will make a statement. [81106]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 19 November 2002]: The number of personnel that were sent the last Continuous Attitude Survey (CAS) for each Service is as follows: Naval Service 2,000; Army 4,006 and RAF 2,000. The proportion of personnel this represented for each Service was 5.3 per cent., 3.9 per cent. and 4.1 per cent. respectively, based on Trained Strength figures for United Kingdom regulars as at 1 September 2002.
In the Naval Service the distribution of the CAS is now carried out through the chain of command rather than directly to the individuals and personnel are encouraged to answer by the offer of participation in a prize draw. The sample groups are entirely random and the sample is sufficient to produce statistically significant results across all ranks.
213WIn the Army the Adjutant General writes a personal letter to all unit Commanding Officers asking them to encourage individuals to respond to the survey. The selection criterion works on a rolling basis using the last two digits of Service numbers. The overall population of respondents is large enough to have statistical confidence that the results can be extrapolated against the wider military population.
For the Royal Air Force a letter from the Chief of Staff Air Member for Personnel accompanies each survey encouraging individuals to take part and emphasising the importance placed on the survey. The survey is a rank-stratified random sample. This means that while the number of personnel at each rank to whom the form is issued is determined in advance, taking into account previous response rates, the individuals who actually receive the form are chosen at random, using the last three digits of their Service number. This results in a total sample that is fairly representative of RAF personnel in rank, branch/trade, gender and ethnic group.
The response rates as a percentage for each Service by rank are shown below:
Naval Service Rank Per cent. Lt Commander and above 69 Junior Officers 67 Senior Ratings ie. WOs, CPOs and POs 55 Junior Ratings ie. Able Rates and Leading Rates1 37 Note 1 For the Naval Service the above level of detail is all that can be provided in the time available.
Army Rank Per cent. 2Lt/Lt 56 Capt 64 Lt Col 71 Brig 40 L/Cpl 40 Sgt 53 WO2 62 2Lt/Lt 56 Maj 84 Col 65 Re 29 Cpl 47 SSgt 68 WO1 68
RAF Rank Per cent. Pit Off + Fg Off 60 Flt Lt 75 Sqn Ldr 74 Wg Cdr 82 Gp Capt 70 SAC = LAC 47 Jnr Tech 55 Cpl 55