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Absent Without Leave

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of service personnel (a) went absent without leave and (b) deserted in each of the last 10 years. [254034] [Official Report, 9 February 2009, Vol. 487, c. 1525-26W.] Letter of correction from Mr. Kevan Jones: Errors have been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray) on 9 February 2009. In the second table recording the number of service personnel convicted of desertion the figures cited for the years 2007 and 2008 were incorrect. The correct full answer should have been: Mr. Quentin Davies: Records held centrally on service personnel who have gone absent without leave (AWOL) relate to the number of incidents reported, not to the number of personnel. Therefore, individuals with multiple periods of absence are recorded more than once. For this reason the percentage of service personnel who went absent without leave in each of the last 10 years cannot be provided. The following table shows absence without leave statistics for each service by calendar year for each of the last 10 years: [Corrected table printed - click on Web Location to view] The following table shows the number of service personnel convicted of desertion in each of the last 10 years: [Corrected table printed - click on Web Location to view]