Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January to Question 7776 on Armed Forces: Recruitment, how many serving personnel have been awarded a cash bounty for referring someone to join the (a) British Army and (b) Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy Recruitment Bounty Scheme began operating in October 2023 and will run until March 2025 with allocated funding of approximately £830,000. No payments have yet been made under the scheme but approximately 200 claims are under consideration.

The Army Recruitment Bounty Scheme began operating in July 2023 and will run across two financial years with allocated funding of approximately £400,000.

One payment has been made so far with approximately 200 under consideration.

Each Bounty Scheme is restricted to its parent Service. Payments can be made once the candidate reaches attestation on an Initial or Basic Training Course.