Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been spent on (a) television, (b) newspaper, (c) online, (d) radio and (e) other forms of advertising using the phrase Armed Forces Reserves in the last 24 months.

Mr Julian Brazier

Recruiting to the Armed Forces, including the Reserves, is carried out by the single Services and is supported by single Service advertising. The expenditure figures for advertising by means of the various media stated are commercially sensitive. Details of the overall single Services’ spend on Reserves advertising in Financial Year (FY) 2013-14 and their budgets for 2014-15 are publishable and were provided in response to Question 215731 on 1 December 2014, reproduced below.

During financial year (FY) 2013-14, the total cost of the Maritime Reserves’ recruitment advertising was £2.16 million. The Maritime Reserves’ budget for Reserves recruitment advertising in FY 2014-15 is £2.96 million.

The Army’s ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ recruiting campaign is designed to attract applications to both the Regular and Reserve components of the Army. The cost of the Reserve element of the campaign is, therefore, an estimate based on a 50% share of the overall campaign cost.

During FY 2013-14, the Army estimates that the cost of advertising for Army Reserve recruitment was £1.882 million. The projected share of the budget to be spent on Army Reserve recruitment advertising in FY 2014-15 is £3.8 million.

During FY 2013-14, the total cost of the RAF’s Reserve recruitment advertising was £2.52 million. In 2014-15, the RAF’s budget for Reserves specific recruitment advertising is £2.14 million.