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<p><strong>Royal Navy (RN)</strong></p><p>The Royal Navy continues to encourage promotion
from the rating corps through the use of the Upper Yardman (UY) and Senior Upper Yardman
(SUY) schemes in order to maintain a sustainable structure and suitable balance of
direct entrants and former ratings. In 2017 the SUY route was extended to include
additional incentives to encourage more Warrant Officers to apply. This is now known
as the SUY(Warrant Officer) scheme.</p><p> </p><p>The Royal Navy issues regular information
on this subject to all its personnel to encourage consideration of this promotion
route. In recent years the Navy has reviewed and extended the validity of the Admiralty
Interview Board pass for UY and SUY candidates and adjusted age limitations placed
on these routes to expand the candidate pool. In 2018 the RN made clear the process
to be followed to apply for a Commission, and the ability for candidates to apply
at the same time for multiple routes (UY, SUY or SUY(WO) if eligible) and for multiple
branches subject to the requisite skills and qualifications. In addition, the Engineers
issued separate guidance to clarify the routes for rating candidates to be extracted
as Engineer Officers to maximise opportunities, and minimise training requirements
based on their academic qualifications, such as those already degree qualified, or
who have attained a Foundation Degree through technical career courses for ratings.</p><p>
</p><p>The Royal Navy offers additional options to those who have been unsuccessful
in their officer application within their chosen branch. As an example, unsuccessful
Air Engineering SUY and SUY(WO) candidates are informed that applications for other
shortage branches, such as Weapon Engineering, are welcomed and will not adversely
affect further applications in their source Branch.</p><p> </p><p>Typically, over
a third of Royal Navy Officer corps are recruited via the UY/SUY route. The Royal
Navy will continue to review extraction routes for ratings to become Officers and
the Service remains committed to ensuring there are healthy promotion prospects where
a Service need exists.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Army</strong></p><p>Soldiers with the
potential to become Officers are identified by their performance on courses (such
as the Command Leadership and Management course) and their annual appraisals. Soldiers
are made aware of the opportunity to become Commissioned Officers by their Chain of
Command, internal publications and initiatives such as the Potential Officer Development
Programme. The number of opportunities available is dependent on the needs of the
specific Army cap badges.</p><p> </p><p>The Army Reserve has always recruited a significant
number of its Officers from within its cohort of other Ranks. Since March 2016 only
Professionally Qualified and Specialist Officers join direct into the Officer cohort;
all others wishing to join the Army Reserve as Direct Entry Officers are required
to enlist as Soldiers first.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Royal Air Force (RAF)</strong></p><p>There
are a number of opportunities throughout an Airman/woman’s career that provide options
for personnel to explore commissioning, including through the Joint Appraisal Report
system, RAF Unit Commissioning Clubs and the Branch Engineering Scheme which is a
bespoke commissioning pathway for Other Rank engineers which is designed to offer
academic qualification via dedicated study at RAF Cosford. Currently, the RAF has
a 30% annual Officer intake from the non-commissioned cohort and this has remained
stable for the last few years.</p><p> </p><p>The requested information on the numbers
of Service personnel promoted from Other Ranks to Officers, including a breakdown
by gender, ethnicity and Commonwealth nationality is provided in the attached tables.</p><p>
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