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PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Armed Forces: Deployment (30 October 2024)

Question Asked

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many trained military personnel were ready to deploy in a combat role in each branch of the armed forces in each of the last five years.

Asked by:
Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain)

Answer

The below table represents the number of UK Armed Forces personnel with a Medical Deployability Standard (MDS) of Medically Fully Deployable (MFD) and Medically Limited Deployable (MLD), in a combat role, as at 1 July for each year between 2020 and 2024, by Service.

Date

Royal Navy (incl. Royal Marines)

British Army1

Royal Air Force

MFD

MLD

Total

MFD

MLD

Total

MFD

MLD

Total

01 July 2020

23,772

2,319

26,091

20,574

2,175

22,749

23,823

2,303

26,126

01 July 2021

24,379

2,397

26,776

21,488

2,274

23,762

23,975

2,405

26,380

01 July 2022

24,203

2,286

26,489

20,551

2,428

22,979

23,223

2,485

25,708

01 July 2023

23,717

2,227

25,944

19,489

2,219

21,708

22,509

2,477

24,986

01 July 2024

22,994

2,385

25,379

18,398

2,123

20,521

21,915

2,465

24,380

Source: Analysis (Health)

The new Government is determined to improve readiness and recruitment levels from those we inherited. Work to do so is underway and the MOD will be making announcements on action in due course.

Notes/caveats:

  1. For the Army, the figures reflect the MDS of Full-Time Trade Trained Strength of the Infantry, the Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps and the Army Air Corps only, which are defined by the Army as personnel serving in a ‘combat role’.
  2. The Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force do not have a definition for ‘combat role’ and the figures therefore reflect the MDS of Full-Time Trained Strength.
  3. The figures include Reserve Forces personnel filling Regular posts whilst serving on Full Time Reserve Service and Gurkha personnel. Other Reserves, Civilians, Foreign Service, and non-UK military personnel are excluded.
  4. The Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) was used to obtain information on MDS. Prior to July 2022, MDS was sourced from a combination of DMICP medical records and data held on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system. Since July 2022 MDS has been sourced directly from DMICP due to improvements in data quality.


Answered by:
Luke Pollard (Labour)
8 November 2024

Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.