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Proceeding contribution from John P Smith (Labour) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 30 October 2008. It occurred during Debate on Defence Policy.


Defence Policy

No, I do not. Unfortunately, we do not have time to go into the details of the whys and the whys not. I merely point out that the United States of America has one of the highest levels of recruitment of ethnic minorities in the world, and that is because it has a proactive policy. The situation is also dangerous because it restricts this country's ability to recruit and retain military personnel. If the armed forces were colour blind, we would be recruiting 20,000 more men and women into the RAF, Navy and Army, and many of the recruitment and retention problems that this country faces would largely be eradicated. Because the armed forces are not colour blind and we are recruiting only 2 per cent. instead of 10 per cent. from the ethnic minority population—


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
481 c1099 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Armed forces Defence Army Armed conflict Deployment Air force Defence equipment Finance Iraq Government assistance Navy Training Security Afghanistan Russia Middle East EU defence policy Georgia Veterans
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk