asked Her Majesty's Government:How many soldiers from ethnic minorities are now serving in each regiment of the Household Division. [HL3352]

As at 1 June 1999, a total of 26 cap-badged soldiers serving in the Household Division identified themselves as being from an ethnic minority. A further 15 soldiers from ethnic minorities are currently undergoing training. A breakdown by individual regiment is given in the table below:

Regiment	Ethnic minority personnel
Household Cavalry
Life Guards	1
RHG/D (Blues and Royals)	1
Foot Guards1	1
Grenadier Guards	4
Coldstream Guards	3
Scots Guards	4
Irish Guards	9
Welsh Guards	3
Total2	26
Notes:
1 The record of service does not yet reflect the regiment to which this individual will be assigned.
2 There are at present two officers in the Household Division whose ethnic origin is recorded as non-white. A further five trained officers and six soldiers have not yet declared their ethnic origin.

The Army, together with its sister services, is committed to reflect the rich ethnic composition of our society. The proportion of intake to the services in 1998–99 which was from the ethnic minorities was 1.8 per cent., a significant and welcome improvement of 40 per cent. upon the previous year. A challenging recruitment goal of 3 per cent. has been set for the current year, which each service is working hard to achieve.