i Air Command Secretariat Spitfire Block Headquarters Air Command Royal Air Force High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP14 4UE Ref: FOI2021/04933 Monica Bloomfield [by e-mail] [email protected] 14 May 2021 Dear Monica Bloomfield, Thank you for your e-mails of 22 April 2021 requesting the following information: "please could you process the request omitting answers to my original questions 4 and 5, thus just answering questions 1,2 3and 6. If it is also possible to state the general maximum age officers may remain serving until that would be useful." and "Please provide details for question 5 in relation to the aircraft maintenance mechanic (AMM) branch for aircraft technicians. If data is available, please provide data for the time periods (where relevant): 2018, 2019 and 2020." This is a clarification to your request of 29 March 2021: “I am writing to request information/data in relation to the following: 1. The average time taken for RAF Aircraft Technicians to progress to each of the following ranks: Corporal; Sergeant; Chief Technician; Flight Sergeant 2. The percentage of RAF Aircraft Technicians who reach the following ranks: Corporal; Sergeant; Chief Technician; Flight Sergeant 3. Average and median lengths of service for RAF Aircraft Technicians for the following ranks: Corporal; Sergeant; Chief Technician 4. The maximum age Commissioned Officers can remain employed by the RAF until. 5. Typical retirement age from the RAF for: Commissioned Officers; Aircraft Technicians 6. Typical Post-RAF careers for Aircraft Technicians." I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) The Ministry of Defence (MOD) requires further information in order to determine whether it holds any information within the scope of your request. To ensure that you are given a response helpful to your enquiry, clarification is required. Therefore, please can you advise, with regard to Questions 4 and 5, if they are to be answered or omitted. If you would like Question 5 answered, please can you clarify the element to be answered. Additionally, with regard to your second e-mail of 22 April 2021, in which you clarify you would like information in relation to Aircraft Maintenance Mechanic (AMM) for Question 5, please can you confirm if Questions 1, 2 3 and 6 are also in relation to AMM. Once you have clarified your request, I will be pleased to consider it again. If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with this response or wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance at the address above. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO-FOI- [email protected]). 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 normally investigate your case until the MOD internal 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 Air Command Secretariat .