Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons behind the recent increase in the number of applications to join the Royal Navy; and whether this rise reflects an increase in that service’s overall personnel capacity.

The Royal Navy (RN) does not collect information on the reasons behind individual applications to join the Service.

There has been an increase in initial training capacity during 2020/21 and the RN is currently on track to deliver approximately 95% of its regular recruiting target. This will facilitate full crewing of all current and future operational platforms and the Future Commando Force. Recruiting targets for 2021/22 are more ambitious and the RN will draw upon the increased interest in joining to meet those higher targets.