asked the Secretary of State for Defence if, for the most convenient available date, he will give the total number of persons employed by his Department in each of the three Services; how many of these are on active service; how many are on reserve service; and how many are civilians.

The strengths of the Regular and Reserve Forces and the civilians supporting

				RN/RM	Army	RAF
Regular personnel	…	…	…	71,600	168,200	87,400
Reserve personnel	…	…	…	35,500	197,300	28,500
Civilians	…	…	…	71,700	88,400	29,300

The figures are for the latest available dates—generally 30 September 1979. They include Gurkhas, locally entered Service personnel and civilians engaged locally overseas. Reserve strengths include both ex-Regulars with a Reserve liability and volunteers. In addition to the civilians shown there are some 90,700 employed in central staffs, the procurement executive and the Royal Ordnance Factories.