asked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of army recruits for the past 12 months were non-British citizens.[HL7280]
The latest figures available are from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. The proportion of those personnel who have entered the untrained strength of the regular Army during that period and who have a non-British nationality are as follows:
Proportion of Non UK Personnel Officers 2.6% Soldiers 5.4% Total 5.3%
1. The figure are for regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment, full-time Reserve service, mobilised Reserves, Territorial Army and all other Reserves.
2. Figures are based on untrained intake into the regular Army and for soldiers include inflows from illegal absence.
3. The nationality given above is that recorded on inflow to the untrained strength and not necessarily the same as the nationality at birth.
4. Includes inflows only from those with a nationality OTHER than UK. It therefore includes those with a nationality of Eire, UK dependency, Commonwealth (excluding UK) and other countries.