Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many soldiers who enlisted in the Army aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 years and above dropped out before completing phase two training in the last 10 financial years.

‘Enlistment' has been interpreted as those who joined the untrained strength, for example those that begin Phase 1 training. Totals for the period between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2014 are shown below:

Source: Defence Statistics (Army).

Personnel may leave the Army for a number of reasons, including medical and fitness factors, disciplinary reasons, or voluntary withdrawal. Those who join-up under 18 years of age have a statutory right to discharge from the Armed Forces within six months if they feel they are unsuited to service life.

The figures in the table exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves.

Where an individual's entry date is blank on the records, the age on entry has not been able to be calculated and is shown as ‘unknown'.

Figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in ‘5' have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not be the sum of their parts.