Service Personnel (Rest and Recuperation)

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Dr Liam Fox)]

I wish to inform the House about the new arrangements we shall be setting in place for “rest and recuperation” for service personnel on operations.

This Government are dedicated to the care and welfare of the men and women of our armed forces, particularly those on operations in Afghanistan. This is reflected in the commitments within the coalition programme for Government, including that we would rebuild the military covenant. One step in doing so is to optimise the rest and recuperation periods for those deployed to Afghanistan. We recognise that rest and recuperation is a key part of the morale and welfare of our people and their families so it is important we get it right.

But this is not an easy issue. There are very real limits in terms of the airbridge in and out of Afghanistan. In making any adjustments to rest and recuperation policy we must remain mindful of these constraints because, above all, any changes must not compromise the operational effectiveness of our forces deployed in Afghanistan.

I am delighted to announce today, however, that we are making changes so that in future no service men and women serving tours in Afghanistan (and on other qualifying deployed operations) will lose out on their two weeks rest and recuperation. Where flights home are delayed or circumstances dictate they cannot take all that rest and recuperation during their tour, as occurred, for instance, when flights were suspended because of the volcanic ash cloud, personnel will in future receive additional post operational leave in compensation. So in future, no-one will lose out on rest and recuperation they would otherwise have received because of disruption to the airbridge.

We will also increase the resilience of the airbridge and prioritise the needs of those who serve the longest—six months or more—in Afghanistan. The chiefs of staff have recommended that the best way to achieve this improved resilience is to deploy those posted for short tours for less than four months so that they will no longer receive a week’s rest and recuperation in the middle of their tour. This will affect a minority of the force, primarily from the RAF, but improved airbridge resilience will significantly benefit the 85% of the force, drawn from all services, who are serving on longer tours. Our feedback from families and personnel themselves also suggests that one week of rest and recuperation in a short tour does not allow time to transit, adjust, rest, prepare and return. I have therefore agreed the chiefs of staffs’ recommendation which will come into effect for those deploying on or after 1 January 2011.

Together these two measures will strengthen our operational effectiveness in Afghanistan and ensure those serving the longest tours receive the rest and recuperation they so richly deserve.