Recruitment

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people were recruited to (a) the Royal Navy and (b) the Royal Air Force in each of the last 12 months; and how many of these recruits have become operationally available. (114633)

The following table shows recruits to the naval service for the period 1 October 2005 until 30 September 2006. Those listed as having joined the trained strength (completed phase 2 training) can be said to be operationally available.

*OfficersOther ranks*
Intake in the month up to:	Intake	Joined trained strength	Intake	Joined trained strength
1 November 2005	10	¹—	390	—
1 December 2005	40	¹—	290	—
1 January 2006	—	¹—	230	10
1 February 2006	80	¹—	340	20
1 March 2006	50	¹—	350	10
1 April 2006	-	¹—	300	30
1 May 2006	50	¹—	170	20
1 June 2006	20	¹—	320	80
1 July 2006	40	10	320	110
1 August 2006	¹—	¹—	390	120
1 September 2006	¹—	¹—	10	60
1 October 2006	150	20	340	150
Total	450	40	3450	610
¹ Zero or rounded to zero. Notes: 1. Due to the length of training courses, many of the intake above will still be in training. 2. The Naval Service comprises the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. 3. The latest available naval service figures are for 1 October 2006 and so the preceding 12 months figures are shown. 4. This table excludes 130 naval service personnel who entered during this period as trained and were therefore not subject to the training process.

The following table shows recruits to the Royal Air Force for the period 1 November 2005 until 31 October 2006. Those listed as having joined the trained strength (completed phase 2 training) can be said to be operationally available.

*OfficersOther ranks*
Intake in the month up to:	Intake	Joined trained strength	Intake	Joined trained strength
1 December 2005	20	¹—	180	¹—
1 January 2006	60	¹—	0	¹—
1 February 2006	10	¹—	140	¹—
1 March 2006	110	¹—	90	10
1 April 2006	20	10	40	¹—
1 May 2006	²40	^{1, 2}—	²180	^{1, 2}—
1 June 2006	²70	^{1, 2}—	²260	²40
1 July 2006	^{1, 2}—	^{1, 2}—	²60	²50
1 August 2006	²60	^{1, 2}—	²180	²20
1 September 2006	²30	^{1, 2}—	²120	²30
1 October 2006	²30	²10	²60	²60
1 November 2006	²130	^{1, 2}—	²220	²70
Total	²570	²20	²l,510	²290
¹Zero or rounded to zero. ² Provisional data. Due to the introduction of a new Personnel Administration System for RAF, all RAF data from 1 April 2006 are provisional and subject to review. Notes: 1. Due to the length of training courses, many of the intake above will still be in training. 2. The latest available Royal Air Force figures are for 1 November 2006 and so the preceding 12 months figures are shown.

Volume 456: debated on Wednesday 7 February 2007