Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many and what proportion of recruits at the Army Foundation College were discharged for a mental health reason in each of the last five years.

Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2023, fewer than five UK Regular untrained personnel at Army Foundation College (Harrogate) were medically discharged with a mental or behavioural disorder cited as the principal or contributory cause. Below is a table with the breakdown per year and proportion.

Table 1: Army Foundation College (Harrogate) Regular untrained personnel¹ medically discharged with a principal or contributory cause of a mental or behavioral disorder, by financial year, numbers and percentages²

1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023

~ In line with JSP 200, the suppression methodology has been applied to ensure individuals are not inadvertently identified dependent on the risk of disclosure. Numbers fewer than five have been suppressed and presented as ‘~’.

¹ Regular untrained personnel, including MPGS and Gurkhas.

² Number of medically discharged personnel as a percentage of all untrained Regular Army Foundation College (Harrogate) personnel on strength within that year.

This response excludes any untrained personnel who are discharged under administrative categories, albeit on medical grounds.

Information on medical discharges has been sourced from electronic medical records (DMICP) and manually entered paper documents (FMed 23s). The primary purpose of these medical documents is to ensure the appropriate administration of each individual patient’s discharge. Statistical analysis and reporting are secondary functions.