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Written question asked by Willie Rennie (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 3 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 6 November 2008. It was answered by Bob Ainsworth (Labour) on Monday, 10 November 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Departmental Manpower

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to alter the size of his Department's staff complement; and what account of his Department's capacity to respond to security threats was taken in the formulation of such plans.
Answer

[holding answer 6 November 2008]: Plans for the future size of the armed forces are published in Defence Plan 2008-12, as follows:

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
Royal Navy 35,790 35,410 35,360 35,380
Army 101,660 101,630 100,560 101,510
RAF 40,830 40,360 40,670 40,170

These plans reflect the expected future security environment and security threats set out in our internal Defence Strategic Guidance, translated by Defence Planning Assumptions into the required future force structure.The civilian work force comprised 88,020 full-time equivalents on 1 October 2008. While we do not set civilian requirements in the same way as for the armed forces, we expect the civilian work force to decrease over the next few years as a result of change programmes, including Head Office Streamlining, the 'PACE' initiative in Defence Equipment and Support and transfers of civilian personnel into the private sector (for example, the Royal School of Military Engineering Public Private Partnership). Further reductions may occur as we continue to review our manpower requirements to ensure that we are delivering best value for money, while continuing to deliver Defence outputs.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
482 c778-9W;482 c778W; 233576
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Staff Ministry of Defence
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk