AIR FORCE
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) outflow and (b) inflow was for RAF (i) engineer (aerosystems) officers and (ii) aircraft tradesmen in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [199376]
Anna Soubry, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans: The outflow and inflow figures available for RAF Engineer (Aerosystems) officers and aircraft tradesmen, for each financial year, are set out in the following tables:
The inflow targets during this period were adjusted in line with the requirement to reduce the regular strength of the RAF. The reduction in inflow was partly due to the reduced requirement for engineering personnel following the removal of aircraft fleets such as Harrier and Nimrod.
The increase in outflow relates to the redundancy programme. As an organisation which recruits into the lower end of the rank structure, recruiting remains important to maintain a sustainable demographic.
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |
| Outflow | |||||
| RAF Engineer (Aerosystems) | n/a | n/a | 90 | 120 | 70 |
| Aircraft Tradesmen | 600 | 610 | 1,080 | 1,160 | 950 |
| Inflow | |||||
| RAF Engineer (Aerosystems) gain to trained strength | n/a | n/a | 50 | 10 | 10 |
| Aircraft Tradesmen gain to trained strength | 780 | 700 | 360 | 220 | 230 |
| Note: In accordance with the Data Protection Act and our obligations in relation to the protection of confidentiality when handling personal data, data has been rounded to the nearest 10. To prevent systematic bias, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20. | |||||