PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Armed Forces: Recruitment (5 February 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of their annual recruitment target for regular personnel in 2018-19 has so far been achieved by (a) the Royal Navy, (b) the Army, (c) the Royal Air Force and (d) the Royal Marines.

Asked by:
Mr Mark Francois (Conservative)

The recruitment figures for financial year (FY) 2018-19 up to 1 October 2018 have been published and can be found at Excel Table 4A of the UK Armed Forces Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2018. Updated official statistics for performance as of 1 January 2019 will be published on 21 February 2019.

The percentage of recruitment achieved against FY 2018-19 targets up to 1 October 2018 is:

	FY 2018-19 (to 1 October 2018)
Royal Navy – Officers	66%
Royal Navy – Other Ranks	38%
Army – Officers	77%
Army – Other Ranks	27%
Royal Air Force – Officers	85%
Royal Air Force – Other Ranks	71%
Royal Marines – Officers	100%
Royal Marines – Other Ranks	27%

The Ministry of Defence remains committed to maintaining the overall size of the Armed Forces and we have a range of measures under way to improve recruitment and retention. The challenge is kept under constant review.

Importantly the Services continue to meet all their current commitments, keeping the country and its interests safe.

Answered by:
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative)
8 February 2019