Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of personnel in each of branch of the Armed Forces identify as BAME.

Defence is committed to attracting, retaining and developing the best talent from the broadest diversity of skills and background, to reflect the society we serve. We are making the step changes required to create a more inclusive environment for all, enabling everyone, irrespective of background, to deliver our Defence outputs, enhance our operational effectiveness and represent the nation we serve. Our Department-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategy clearly sets out a challenging vision, goals, objectives and commitments of where we want to see change.

Defence is undergoing a rapid transformation. As part of this transformation, in 2020 the Chiefs of Staff set out their commitment to invest in a range of actions to support Defence’s ambition to be a more diverse and inclusive place to work.

The requested information is published by the Ministry of Defence in the biannual diversity statistics publication. The latest statistics, as at April 2022, are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-april-2022

A full index of biannual diversity statistics, from 2015 onwards, is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-index