Jenni Wilbourn

DASA(Quad-Service)

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

3-K-34 Main Building

Horse Guards Avenue

London SW1A 2HB

Telephone: 020 7218 9000 Fax: 020 7218 0969

Email: [email address]

Dear Mr Thomas,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 2^nd September 2009, in which you asked for the following information:

The total number of servicemen, regardless of rank

     1) in the Army

     2) in the Royal Navy

     3) in the Royal Air Force

And the total number of unfilled vacancies

I am treating this as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Information on the number of personnel in the Armed Forces can be found in DASA's Monthly publication, in Table 1 - Full time trained strengths and requirements of UK Armed Forces. This is available at www.dasa.mod.uk under the National Statistics Publications heading http://bravo.dasa.r.mil.uk/applications/newWeb/www/apps/publications/pubViewFile.php?content=160.1&date=2009-08-27&type=html&PublishTime=09:30:00

For the `unfilled vacancies' please see the surplus/deficit against the requirement also shown in the above link.

I hope you find this helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Jenni Wilbourn

If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 6th Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address]). Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website, http://www.ico.gov.uk.