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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on his plans to make greater use of the Commonwealth as a source of potential army recruits; which (a) countries and (b) specialities will be targeted; and what the budget of the recruitment exercise will be; [156793] (2) if the plans to make greater use of the Commonwealth as a source of potential army recruits will include the recruitment of Commonwealth nationals into (a) existing regiments and units or (b) new Commonwealth regiments and units; what pay and conditions will apply; and if he will make a statement; [156794] (3) if the plans to make greater use of the Commonwealth as a source of potential army recruits include recruitment from Commonwealth countries whose head of state is not Her Majesty the Queen; and if he will make a statement; [156795] (4) what oath of allegiance will be taken by non-British recruits from Commonwealth countries when they are enlisted into the British Army under the plans in the Strategy for the Army. [156797] Mr. Spellar: The Army has no plans to recruit actively from the Commonwealth and there is, therefore, no specific budget allocated to this area of recruitment. Applications are welcomed from Commonwealth citizens, subject to their meeting the normal entry criteria, irrespective of whether the Queen is head of state or not. Successful applicants are placed wherever vacancies exist according to their qualifications, performance at selection and preferences, where possible; there are no plans to institute "Commonwealth" regiments. Individuals enlist under the same terms and conditions of service as UK applicants and are required to swear an oath of allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen as head of the Commonwealth. The visits made to Fiji and St. Vincent and the Grenadines by army selection teams in 1999 and 2000 took place in order to process the large backlog of applications from these countries; no new recruitment was undertaken during these visits. The British Army has traditionally welcomed members of the Commonwealth as soldiers and officers. It is perhaps the spread of information via the world wide web and similar mediums that has increased the level of interest from overseas areas in recent months.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

366 c197W; 156793;156794;156795;156797

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Army Commonwealth Recruitment Migrant workers

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk