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Armed Forces: Recruitment

Volume 487: debated on Thursday 29 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many recruits of each sex have joined each unit of each of the armed forces at each rank in each of the last 10 years. (252098)

Information on armed forces recruitment by sex can be found in United Kingdom Defence Statistics (UKDS) 2008, Table 2.19 Intake to UK regular forces from civil life by Service and sex. UKDS is published annually; the most recent publication shows figures for the 12 months to 31 March 2008 and can be found at:

http://www.dasa.mod.uk/modintranet/UKDS2008/c2/table 219.html

Intake to UK regular forces from civil life by unit could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The majority of personnel recruited into the armed forces do so at the lowest level rank of either the officer or other ranks rank structure. Only professional personnel (for example doctors and lawyers) are recruited at any other than the lowest rank and therefore data has not been provided.