Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Operational Pinch Points there are in the (a) Naval Service, (b) Army Service and (c) RAF Service; and what assessment he has made of the underlying reasons for any deficits in trained strength.

As at 1 October 2017 there were 15 Operational Pinch Points (OPPs) in the Naval Service, 7 in the Army and 11 in the Royal Air Force.

OPPs may come from ensuring that our personnel do not go over guidelines on how much time should be spent on operations in any one year, and/or a competitive job market for the trades or areas of expertise involved. The single Services closely monitor any OPPs and apply a range of measures to manage them.