§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current strength of each regimental band in the armed forces is; and if he will make a statement. [151189]
§ Mr. IngramThe trained strength of each Services bands are as follows:
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Regimental band Strength Naval Service1,2 Royal Marines Britannia Royal Naval College Band 40 Royal Marines Commando Training Centre Band 45 HQ Band Service 10 Royal Marines School of Music 35 Royal Marines Band Plymouth 70 Royal Marines Band Portsmouth 85 Royal Marines Band Scotland 45 Army3,4 Life Guards 30 Blue and Royals 30 Dragoon Guards 30 Hussars and Light Dragoons 30 Royal Lancers 30 Royal Tank Regiment 30 Royal Artillery 45 Royal Engineers 35 Royal Signals 30 Grenadier Guards 50 Coldstream Guards 45 Scots Guards 50 Irish Guards 45 Welsh Guards 45 Highland 35 Lowland 30 Queens (Minden) 30 Queens (Normandy) 30 Kings (Waterloo) 35 Kings (Normandy) 35
Regimental band Strength Prince of Wales (Lucknow) 30 Prince of Wales (Clive) 35 Light Division 40 Royal Irish Regiment 35 Parachute 30 Army Air Corps 30 Royal Logistic Corps 35 Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 30 Adjutant General's Corps Gurkha (GURTAM) Royal Air Force5,6 Central Band of the RAF 80 Band of the RAF Regiment 40 Music Detachment at Cranwell 40 1 Royal Marines band service data provided by DASA. 2 Strength as at 1 December 2003 and excludes 20 personnel not assigned to a Band unit. These individuals are usually deployed as Volunteer Band Instructors. 3 Data supplied by Corps of Army Music (CAM). 4 Strength as at 30 January 2004. 5 Officers Music Branch and Other Ranks Musicians data supplied by DASA. 6 Strength as at 1 December 2003 and excludes 10 personnel based at HQ Music Services in Uxbridge. Note:
All figures include Officers and Other Ranks and have been rounded to the nearest five.