Ministry of Defence written question – answered at on 14 February 2025.
Bradley Thomas
Conservative, Bromsgrove
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of armed forces personnel are serving in military bands; and what funding his Department has made available to military bands.
Luke Pollard
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
The Government is proud of those who serve in our military bands. They not only support all year-round engagements but also serve secondary roles supporting defence. Armed Forces personnel who serve in military bands have a secondary specialisation in support of operations; for example those in the Army support deployed medicine; Naval personnel can form part of a medical team on board a casualty-receiving facility, and Royal Air Force Musicians are also trained in the Counter-CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear) role of establishing and running a Casualty Decontamination Area, a declared NATO capability.
The number and proportion of Royal Navy/Royal Marines (RN/RM) and Royal Air Force (RAF) Full-Time Trained Strength (FTTS) and Army Full-Time Trade Trained Strength (FTTTS) Personnel serving in Military Bands as at 1 April 2024 was:
Service | Total | Officers | |
Strength of Military Bands | 1,190 | 55 | 1,135 |
Proportion of FTTS/FTTTS | 0.9% | 0.2% | 1.1% |
RN/RM | 345 | 15 | 330 |
Proportion of RN/RM FTTS | 1.2% | 0.2% | 1.5% |
Army | 692 | 36 | 656 |
Proportion of Army FTTTS | 1.0% | 0.3% | 1.1% |
RAF | 153 | 4 | 149 |
Proportion of RAF FTTS | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
Source: Analysis (Tri-Service)
In the most recent Financial Year (FY, 2023-24), expenditure on all band activity was as follows:
Service | Expenditure in FY 2023-24 (£Million) |
RN/RM | 1.650 |
Army | 7.334 |
Royal Air Force | 0.648 |
Yes2 people think so
No0 people think not
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