Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many non-UK EU citizens are employed by the Armed Forces; and how many of those non-UK EU citizens are employed in the (a) STEM (b) hospitality field.

All candidates for the UK Armed Forces must be British from birth, hold a dual British/other nationality, or be a British National, citizen of the Republic of Ireland (RoI) or a Commonwealth citizen. This means that non-UK EU citizens from Cyprus, Malta and the RoI are eligible to serve in the UK Regular Armed Forces. For some specialisations (e.g. Submarine service), candidates must hold British nationality only. In addition, all applicants must meet Home Office residency requirements (normally five years).

The table below provides the requested information, noting that all non-UK EU Citizens in the UK Regular Armed Forces have a Foreign and Commonwealth nationality.

Notes: STEM consists of Engineering Officers and Other Ranks for the Royal Navy/Marines and the Royal Air Force. For the Army, STEM includes Officers and Other Ranks in the Intelligence Corps, Royal Signals, Royal Engineers, Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, and Soldiers in selected trades in the Royal Logistics Corps.

For the Royal Navy, the definition of ‘Hospitality’ here includes Caterers, Chefs and Stewards. For Royal Air Force, the definition includes Chefs only. Figures do not include Army personnel as Army chefs are not recorded in the hospitality field for statistical purposes.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10, but when ending in a 5 rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systemic bias.