To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what was the percentage of Army personnel who had (a) mechanical engineering skills, (b) electrical engineering skills, (c) civil engineering skills, (d) mechanical transport skills and (e) communications skills in each year since 1985;(2) what is the current percentage of Army personnel who have
(a) mechanical engineering skills, (b) electrical engineering skills, (c) civil engineering skills, (d) mechanical transport skills and (e) communications skills;
(3) for each financial year since 1985–86 how many of those Army personnel who left the service prematurely had (a) mechanical engineering skills, (b) electrical engineering skills, (c) civil engineering skills, (d) mechanical transport skills and (e) communication skills.
The following information is based upon personnel numbers in the relevant corps. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) employ personnel with both mechanical and electrical engineering skills. The Royal Engineers (RE) employ personnel with civil engineering skills; the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) employ personnel with mechanical transport skills; and the Royal Signals (R Sigs) employ personnel with communications skills.
| (a) Strength as at 31 March 1990, of REME, RE, RCT and R Sigs as a percentage of whole Army1 | |||
| REME | RE | RCT | R Sigs |
| 10·4 | 9·9 | 6·9 | 8·3 |
| (b) Strength of REME, RE, RCT and R Sigs as a percentage of whole Army 1985–86 to 1989–90 | ||||
| REME | RE | RCT | R Sigs | |
| 1985–86 | 10·0 | 9·7 | 7·3 | 8·8 |
| 1986–87 | 10·0 | 9·8 | 7·2 | 8·9 |
| 1987–88 | 10·2 | 9·8 | 6·9 | 8·8 |
| 1988–89 | 10·3 | 9·8 | 6·8 | 8·5 |
| 1989–90 | 10·4 | 9·8 | 6·9 | 8·3 |
| (c) Premature voluntary release exits of trained male Army and of REME, RE, RCT and R Sigs: 1985–86 to 1989–90 | |||||
| Whole Army | REME | RE | RCT | RSigs | |
| 1985–86 | 3,587 | 320 | 408 | 259 | 259 |
| 1986–87 | 3,224 | 335 | 319 | 230 | 235 |
| 1987–88 | 3,905 | 332 | 409 | 371 | 317 |
| 1988–89 | 4,545 | 379 | 505 | 369 | 473 |
| 1989–90 | 4,773 | 495 | 557 | 429 | 348 |
| 1 Figures relate to trained male strength. | |||||