Army: Recruitment

(asked on 18th December 2023) - View Source
Questioner
John Healey Portrait
John Healey
(Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what were the (a) recruitment targets and (b) actual numbers of people recruited to the Army in each year since 2010.

Answered by
Andrew Murrison Portrait
Andrew Murrison
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 8th January 2024

The first table below shows the Basic Training Starts (BTS) Targets for British Army Other Ranks by financial year. There are no targets for Officers.

Financial Year

BTS Target

2010-11

8,350

2011-12

10,530

2012-13

9,830

2013-14

9,380

2014-15

9,370

2015-16

9,550

2016-17

10,200

2017-18

9,770

2018-19

9,990

2019-20

9,400

2020-21*

9,870

2021-22

6,670

2022-23

8,220

*2020-21 Target was 9,870 before being supressed in-year to 8,270 because of IR measures.

The second table below shows the BTS Actuals for British Army Officers and Other Ranks by financial year.

Financial Year

Total BTS Actuals

Officer BTS Actuals

Other Ranks BTS Actuals

2010-11

8,520

740

7,780

2011-12

10,890

690

10,200

2012-13

10,060

620

9,440

2013-14

6,810

560

6,250

2014-15

7,850

500

7,350

2015-16

8,100

550

7,550

2016-17

7,620

640

6,980

2017-18

6,600

620

5,990

2018-19

6,500

640

5,860

2019-20

9,580

630

8,960

2020-21*

9,330

650

8,680

2021-22

7,230

650

6,580

2022-23

6,080

520

5,560

Please note the following notes/caveats:

  1. The figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.

  1. Basic Training Start figures prior to and including 2016/17 include all personnel entering both Phase 1 and Phase 2 training. Following a change in definition of trained strength from 1 October 2016, all Basic Training Starts figures from 2017/18 onwards only include personnel who entered Phase 1 training. Figures from 2017/18 onwards are therefore not directly comparable with previous Financial Years.

  1. Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

  1. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts.

Reticulating Splines