Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) number of and (b) requirement for medical service personnel was on 1 April 2024.

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released.

Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel, or indeed other specialised professions, could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.