Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Patsy Calton (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 4 February 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 25 March 2004. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 25 March 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel have been posted to new locations in each of the last five years; and how many service families were required to move house within the UK and abroad in each year. - Inc table.
Answer

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have been posted to new locations in each of the last five years; and how many service families were required to move house within the UK and abroad in each year. [153829] Mr. Ingram: The Naval Service are unable to provide accurate figures on postings to new locations as their information system does not distinguish between drafts of a week and longer tours of duty. The information could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information on Army postings could also be provided only at disproportionate cost. The number of RAF personnel posted to new locations is shown in the following table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Financial year Officers Ground Airmen 1998-99 3,636 8,805 1999-2000 3,822 8,587 2000-01 4,156 8,105 2001-02 3,511 7,943 2002-03 3,601 7,783 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. The table details the number of postings for both officers and ground airmen. No statistics are held for Non Commissioned Aircrew as they tend to remain at the same unit for a number of years and therefore are likely to move around less often. Postings where no physical movement has occurred have been excluded from these statistics. No data on detachments/attachments or deployments has been included. The Defence Housing Executive records the numbers of moves into and moves out of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in mainland UK. During 2003 around 24,000 SFA occupants moved within mainland UK or between SFA in Britain and married quarters overseas. Reliable figures are not readily available for previous years and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
419 c940-1W;419 c942-3W; 153829
Session
2003-04
Subjects
Armed forces Army Air force Location Navy
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk