To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answers of 11 February 2009, Official Report, column 1993W and 24 February 2009 Official Report, column 741W, on apprentices, for what reasons the number of apprenticeships in his Department declined from 2007-08 to 2008-09. (262699)

In the 2007-08 reporting period, the Department delivered 8,758 armed forces and civil service apprentice completions. The apprenticeships detailed in my written answer on 24 February 2009, Official Report, column 741W, refers to a specific pilot scheme for civil servants and not the entire departmental number of apprentice completions. The Department will collate the details of armed forces and civil service apprentice completions during 2008-09 in August 2009. At this stage, we can not compare figures from both 2007-08 and 2008-09.