A key aim of the armed forces diversity policy is that they should become more representative of the society they serve. The intention is that by 2013 the proportion of ethnic minority personnel serving in the armed forces should broadly reflect UK society (i.e. around 8 per cent. of personnel should come from ethnic minority backgrounds).

To achieve this will require sustained effort, building on the achievements of recent years to ensure that the armed forces attract personnel from the rich UK ethnic minority talent pool. As an integral part of this strategy, the armed forces have set a further round of annual UK ethnic minority recruiting goals from financial year 2006–07 for the next five years at 0.5 per cent. above the previous year's achievement for each service, or rolling forward the previous year's target where this would provide a greater challenge. This means that in the financial year 2006–07 the goals will be for the Royal Navy to recruit approximately 3.5 per cent. of intake from ethnic minorities, the army approximately 4.3 per cent. and the RAF approximately 3.6 per cent.