Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people have been recruited to work for his Department as a result of advertisements placed online in the last three years.

The Armed Forces uses a layered marketing campaign approach to recruitment into the Reserves which includes television, social media, outreach events and other mediums. Marketing analysis shows that people who join do so as a result of a cumulative number of so-called “touch points”. For this reason, the information which you seek is not available in the format you have requested.

Research carried out by the Navy in July – December 2014 suggests that around half of potential applicants to the Maritime Reserve said that the ‘top influencer’ in their decision to apply was internet advertising, whilst a third said it was television.

For recruitment to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, television and internet campaigns combined represent over 90% of triggers to application. We do not have separate figures for the two categories.

Research into which form of media is most effective is currently being carried out by the Army; this work will be completed within the next few months.

Information on recruitment to the regular Armed Forces is collected as part of the Annual Recruit Trainee Survey, the latest version of which is available at the following web address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruit-trainee-survey