asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the present strength of: (a) the Royal Navy; (b) the Army; (c) the Royal Air Force; and (d) the Royal Marines; and how these figures compare with the same figures three years ago.[HL7779]
Figures showing the strength of the UK Regular Forces on the 1 September 2003 and 2006 are shown in the table below.
1 September 2003 1 September 2006 Royal Navy 33,910 31,480 Royal Marines 7,250 7,400 Army 111,930 106,310 Royal Air Force 53,140 46,820p Total 206,230 192,010p Source: DASA (Tri-service) Figures are for UK regular forces (including both trained and untrained personnel), and therefore exclude Gurkhas, full-time reserve service personnel, the home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment and mobilised reservists. Due to the rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. p denotes provisional. Due to the introduction of a new personnel administration