CONFIDENTIAL
3RD DRAFT
10. A further review of the Junior Training organisation is being
put in hand to take account of the latest forecasts of recruiting
trends and the implications of the Government's review of defence
expenditure.
ROYAL AIR FORCE
Ground Training
11. A common training syllabus has been introduced at the Royal
Air Force College, Cranwell, and the Officer Cadet Training Unit,
Henlow, which will ensure that all new officers are trained to the
same standard.
12. A revised pattern of command and staff training, outlined in
the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1973 (Cmnd. 5231), has been
adopted by the Royal Air Force and introduction will be completed
by August 1975.
13.
The organisation and resources of Training Command have been
reviewed as part of the continued search for economies in training.
At the end of 1973, Headquarters 24 Group at Rudloe Manor
Jag
responsible for ground training was closed and its tasks transferred,
with a saving in staff, to the Headquarters of the Air Officer
Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command. A continuing and compre-
hensive review of the total training task enables the redeployment
of essential training into fewer but more cost-effective units.
The
Royal Air Force Stations at Manby, Upwood, Spitalgate and Debden will
be closed. Apprentice training has also been reviewed, in relation
to the raising of the school leaving age, and is now being confined
to training a substantially smaller number of dual-skill tradesmen.
VI-4
CONFIDENTIAL