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Armed Forces: Training

Volume 506: debated on Tuesday 2 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many graduates there were from Royal Air Force college Cranwell in each of the last 10 years; and how many of them are still employed within the RAF. (319243)

In 2005, the Initial Officer Training (IOT) course was restructured and a new data system was introduced. Retrieving data from pre-2006 would require a manual search of paper records and so this information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The number of Officer graduates from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, by year, were:

Number

2006

282

2007

371

2008

574

2009

547

The figures for 2006 are incomplete as the data collection did not commence until July, with the first graduation of the restructured IOT course. The increased output between 2007 and 2008 is due to an increase in RAF recruitment to meet the increasing demand in manpower establishment.

The number of graduates still employed within the RAF is not held centrally and could only be provided by manual searches through the Joint Personnel Administration database at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many graduates there were from Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in each of the last 10 years; and how many of them are still employed within the Royal Marines. (319244)

The number of Royal Marines personnel to pass out of Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM) in each of the last 10 years is as follows:

Commando Training Centre Royal Marines

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

RM officers

28

43

37

28

38

33

35

36

39

RM other ranks

500

566

602

663

612

458

568

569

557

574

AACC1

156

101

194

164

265

204

RMR RFCC2

46

48

46

47

66

66

1 The All Arms Commando Course (AACC) is conducted primarily to train personnel who will serve either with or support of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and is undertaken by service personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.

2 The Royal Marine Reserve, Reserve Forces Commando Course (RMR RFCC) is undertaken by Royal Marine Reserve candidates prior to full Commando Training.

In order to provide the figures prior to 2001 for Royal Marine officers and before 2004 for AACC and RMR RFCC would require a manual search of records which could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Information on how many of these graduates are still employed within the Royal Marines is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.