Army Secretariat Army Headquarters IDL 24 Blenheim Building Marlborough Lines Andover Hampshire, SP11 8HJ United Kingdom

Ref: FOI2019/11993/13/04 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.army.mod.uk

Adam Cass request-613626- 28 November 2019 [email protected]

Dear Mr Cass,

Thank you for your email of 19 October in which you requested the following information:

“1) The percentage of male and female officers in each in the as of 19 Oct 2019 (or most recent available date). 2) The percentage of male and female other ranks in each cap badge in the British Army as of Oct 2019 (or most recent available date).

Please note that it is important that this information is broken down into individual cap badges, not simply given in an overall statistic.”

I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. A search for the information has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence, and I can confirm that the information in scope of your request is held and can be found in the table below. Please note that data provided is as of 1st April 2019, with Section 44 (Prohibitions on disclosure) applied in order to comply with The Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008. The data provided is also subject to Section 40 (Personal Data) of the Freedom of Information Act. Due to low numbers, data has been rounded to avoid the potential disclosure of individual identities.

Table showing the percentage split between male and female Trade Trained Regular Army Officers & Soldiers

Total Regular Arm/Service Total Regular Soldiers Officers

% Males % Female % Males % Female Total 88% 12% 91% 9% Staff 93% 7% ~ ~

Household Cavalry/ 99% ~ 100% ~ 90% 10% 89% 11% 91% 9% 99% 1% Royal Signals 89% 11% 93% 7% Infantry 100% ~ 100% ~ Army Air Corps 93% 7% 93% 7% Royal Army Chaplains Department 95% ~ ~ ~ 87% 13% 89% 11% 73% 27% 66% 34% Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 93% 7% 96% 4% Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC) (Staff and Personnel Support) 73% 27% 62% 38%

AGC () 78% 22% 75% 25%

AGC () ~ ~ 94% ~ AGC (Educational Training Services) 68% 32% ~ ~ AGC (Army Legal Service) 65% 35% ~ ~

AGC Unspecified ~ ~ ~ ~ Royal Army Veterinary Corps 60% 40% 63% 37% 100% ~ 99% ~ 62% 38% 13% 87% Intelligence Corps 79% 21% 82% 18% Royal Army Physical Training Corps 98% ~ 94% 6% Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps 36% 64% 33% 67% Corps of Army Music 92% ~ 78% 22% Senior Soldier Continuity Posts ~ ~ 99% ~ Source: Defence Statistics(Army)

Please note that female strengths in some populations are relatively small so any fluctuations are likely to noticeably affect percentages and should be treated with caution.

Notes/Caveats to all Tables:

1. All Officers with a Paid Rank of Colonel or above are included in the Staff Strength. 2. “~” represents fewer than 10 people, including zero. 3. Figures are for Trade Trained personnel only, there are others that at the time were within the training pipeline who are not included within the above data. 4. The military decided to open up all roles to women in a phased approach over three years, starting with the Royal Armoured Corps in November 2016. Since December 2018 women could transfer into the infantry and apply to join the infantry and the Royal Marines. Training courses for new recruits started in spring 2019 and the first will have finished training October/November.

If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first instance. Following this, if you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response, you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO- [email protected]). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the date of this response.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at https://ico.org.uk/.

Yours sincerely,

Army Manning Portfolio 2 Army Secretariat