Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the balance of officers and soldiers in the British Army.

The overall structure of the Army (Officers and Soldiers) is reviewed every five years and we are currently in the midst of the latest quinquennial review.

As at 1 January 2021, the Trade Trained Regular Strength, which does not include Gurkhas or Full-Time Reserves, was 72,639. This is comprised of:

Trade Trained Regular Officer Strength of 12,256 (16.9%)

Trade Trained Regular Soldier Strength of 60,383 (83.1%)

These figures are part of the Armed Forces Personnel statistics, which are published quarterly and can be found on gov.uk at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2021