§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have been posted to new locations in each of the last five years; and how many service families were required to move house within the UK and abroad in each year. [153829]
§ Mr. IngramThe Naval Service are unable to provide accurate figures on postings to new locations as their information system does not distinguish between drafts of a week and longer tours of duty. The information could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information on Army postings could also be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The number of RAF personnel posted to new locations is shown in the following table.
Financial year Officers Ground Airmen 1998–99 3,636 8,805 1999–2000 3,822 8,587 2000–01 4,156 8,105 2001–02 3,511 7,943 2002–03 3,601 7,783 The table details the number of postings for both officers and ground airmen. No statistics are held for Non Commissioned Aircrew as they tend to remain at the same unit for a number of years and therefore are likely to move around less often.
943WPostings where no physical movement has occurred have been excluded from these statistics. No data on detachments/attachments or deployments has been included.
The Defence Housing Executive records the numbers of moves into and moves out of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in mainland UK. During 2003 around 24,000 SFA occupants moved within mainland UK or between SFA in Britain and married quarters overseas.
Reliable figures are not readily available for previous years and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.