Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications there were to join the Royal Navy in each year between 2008 and 2018; and how many of those applications in each of those years were successful.

Applications data were not published as Official Statistics prior to 2014. However, the number of applicants and entrants to the Naval Service, from 2014 onwards, is published in the quarterly Service Personnel Statistics, which can be found at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756686/1Oct_2018-_SPS.xlsx

Table 9a shows the number of applications and tables 5a and 7b show the intake to the Regulars and Reserves.