§ 11. Bob Russell:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress he has made in the past three months in filling vacancies in the Army. [143778]
§ Mr. Caplin:The latest available figures indicate that whole Army trained strength increased by 540 between 1 August 2003 and 31 October 2003.
§ Mr. Flight:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many recruits have joined the trained strength of the armed services in each of the last two years. [143346]
§ Mr. Caplin:I refer the hon. Member to Tri Service Publication 4: United Kingdom Armed Forces Quarterly Press Release which is available in the Library of the House and is updated each quarter.
Table 4 contains figures for Gains to Trained Strength of UK Regular Forces.
§ Mr. Foulkes:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department was of providing school places for children of Service personnel under the Service Education Allowance Scheme in each of the past 10 years. [142991]
§ Mr. Caplin:The total sums paid annually for boarding and day school fees by the Ministry of Defence in each of the past 10 years are not held centrally.
I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 3 December 2003, Official Report, columns 67–68W, about the various per child annual rates of Service Education Allowances from 1996 onwards.