Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) service liability, (b) funded strength and (c) total paid service strength is for the (i) Royal Navy, (ii) Army and (iii) Royal Air Force.

In order to facilitate a clearer public understanding the Ministry of Defence now uses the term "requirement" in place of "service liability" in its publications, although this is effectively the same thing. Likewise, we now refer to "trained strength" rather than "funded strength" and "paid strength".

Information on the requirements and full time trained strengths of UK Armed Forces, including a breakdown by Service, is published in the UK Armed Forces Monthly Personnel Report. The latest edition includes data as at 1 September 2014 and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/361249/MPR_September_2014.pdf