Written question asked by Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party) on Wednesday, 26 May 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 June 2010. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have been recruited into the (a) Royal Air Force, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Army in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Northern Ireland and (iv) Wales in each of the last five years.

Answer

The numbers of personnel recruited into the armed forces in each of the last five years are as follows:

Royal Navy/Royal Marines
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
England	3,251	3,265	3,345	3,581	3,579
Scotland	314	287	277	330	284
Northern Ireland	204	163	180	204	206
Wales	42	57	48	47	49
Centrally recruited	54	42	85	98	56
Notes:
1. Officers are recruited through six Regional Officer Careers Liaison Centres (OCLC) in Rosyth, Peterborough, Plymouth, London, Manchester and Belfast. Candidates will normally be sent to the OCLC nearest to them, therefore officer candidates from Wales would normally be processed through OCLC Manchester and cannot, therefore be separated from the candidates from England processed through that OCLC.
2. 'Centrally recruited' refers to specialist officer candidates who are processed centrally i.e. doctors, dentists, chaplains and QARNNS officer.

Army—Officers
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Total	752	707	712	713	645

Due to the way Army Officers are recruited, data is only available as a total and not by country.

Secondary information