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Dr. Tonge
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many commissioned officers there are in (a) the Army, (b) the Royal Navy and (c) the Royal Air Force; and how many are of Afro-Caribbean origin. [83074]
Mr. Doug Henderson
[holding answer 4 May 1999]: As at 1 March 1999, the numbers of all commissioned officers, and the number of commissioned officers whose known ethnic category is either 'Black-African' or 'Black-Caribbean' is as shown in the table:
| All ethnic origins | Black-African1 | Black-Caribbean1 | |
| Naval Service | 7,733 | 8 | 6 |
| Army | 12,707 | 12 | 12 |
| Royal Air Force | 10,798 | 9 | 17 |
| Total | 31,238 | 29 | 35 |
| 1These numbers are based on the self-classification of ethnic origin used by individual members of the Armed Forces. There are a further 24 officers who have classified themselves as 'Black-Other'. | |||