Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) establishment and (b) current strength is of the (i) Grenadier Guards, (ii) Coldstream Guards, (iii) Scots Guards, (iv) Welsh Guards and (v) Irish Guards.

Mark Lancaster, Minister of State for the Armed Forces: The figures provided below show the establishment and current strength of the infantry cap badge personnel at regimental duty, including the public duties incremental companies, of the listed regiments as at 1 October:

Notes:

1. The establishment data is a single service estimate and reflects the role of the units as under Army 2020.
2. Current strengths have been provided by Defence Statistics and 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.
3. Regimental duty is defined as personnel serving in a regimental unit, for example, in the 1st Battalion.
4. Establishment and strength data do not include attached personnel from other arms and corps, nor do they include personnel at extra regimental employment in posts away from their parent unit.

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