To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the size of the Defence Intelligence Staff was in each year since 1997. (253716)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave on 15 June 2006, Official Report, column 1384W, to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), which provides the size of the Defence intelligence staff (DIS) for the years 1997 to 2006. The information for subsequent years is: April 2007—4,748; April 2008—4,308 staff; and is forecast as 4,365 staff for April 2009.