Syria and Iraq: ISIS

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

A number of measures are being taken to ensure that smuggling of equipment and ammunition is blocked. The Syrian moderate opposition forces have been quite successful in blocking those routes, particularly between Turkey and Syria. More widely, there is an international effort to close down the sources of finance that Daesh has as its disposal. A lot of that work, I am proud to say, is being led by the United Kingdom.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, it is right to label ISIL as evil and murderous, because it is those things. But are we asking why it is? What research and studies are we undertaking to get into the mind of ISIL, so that we better understand its motives, and the many structures and layers of operation that enable it to recruit in countries as varied and diverse as Afghanistan and Britain, and to produce a blueprint to create a state? If we are to help rid the world of this ideology, we need first of all to know our enemy as well as he knows himself.

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. The UK is leading international efforts to counter Daesh’s poisonous ideology. Our work with the internet industry, for example, has helped to stop the proliferation of Daesh propaganda. We announced at the UN General Assembly in September that the UK would host a new coalition communications cell. That cell helps countries that have previously lacked the means or knowledge necessary to deliver effective communication interventions against Daesh to do so. It is already helping to drive the coalition strategic communications to counter Daesh’s extremism and ensure, essentially, that no media space is left uncontested.

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Thursday 3rd December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, in this debate the House is being asked to take note of Britain’s,

“role in supporting international security and stability in the light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review”.

We have heard some first-class maiden speeches from the noble Lords, Lord Arbuthnot, Lord Bruce and Lord Hain, and the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham. Each has served with considerable distinction in the other place and I have no doubt that they will do the same here, bringing their very considerable experience to our debates and enhancing the standing of your Lordships’ House.

The debate could not have come at a more important time: less than 24 hours ago we began air strikes against ISIL in Syria. The defence of our country and Britain’s international role in fighting probably the most evil of terror groups to inhabit our world is very much on the minds of our fellow countrymen and women. At the outset I pay tribute to the brave men and women of Britain’s Armed Forces who, day in, day out, put their lives on the line to defend our freedom and our way of life. In my eyes and, I am sure, in the eyes of many others, they have no equal. Now that the decision to engage in Syria has been taken, no matter whether we agreed with this action or opposed it, we have to get behind our forces, giving them and their families our full support.

It would be easy to stand at this Dispatch Box and tear into the strategic defence review. It has many shortcomings and we considered some of these in the debate following the Statement on 23 November, and a number of noble Lords have shared their concerns today. It would be easy to make party political points and hit out at the Government over the review. However, that is not my aim or intention. Today, of all days, we need to be a united country and a united Parliament.

There are still many unanswered questions about the review. Britain is a maritime trading nation and keeping open the world’s sea lanes for trade and commerce is vital to our economic well-being, yet our Navy is small, stretched and lacks sufficient vessels. There is also concern that we have too few personnel to man our ships. The SDSR told us that Britain will increase the size of its frigate fleet in the long term. Will the Minister say what is meant by “long term”? Is it five years or 10 years? How long is it? If he has answered that in the letter I received 20 minutes ago, I hope he will forgive me for asking the question again. We are told that there will be a new class of lighter, flexible, general-purpose frigate by the 2030s. Can the Minister put some more meat on the bare bone of this plan, or is it another of those “long on promises and short on specifics” that characterise much of the review?

The size of the Royal Air Force is at an all-time low, when monitoring submarine incursions in or near our territorial waters is increasingly important. The SDSR tells us that we will buy Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft to perform the task that was once done by Nimrod. Can the Minister say when Britain will have a fully operational independent capability to do this? I am told that it will be 2020. Is that correct?

In the case of the Army, the SDSR sets out a plan to form two new strike brigades, with 5,000 personnel, capable of rapid deployment. When will that take place? My reading of the review suggests that it will be 10 years before the rapid strike brigades can be deployed. I return to a question that I asked the noble Earl on 23 November, to which, probably because of pressure of time, he did not answer. Is it true that our Special Forces have shrunk by 40% due to restructuring and reduced numbers? The noble Lord, Lord Robathan, said in his speech last night that the pool of talent for the Special Forces has been shrunk by cuts, a point to which he returned today. He said that the Army is half the size it was when he joined 40 years ago, adding that it was difficult, if not impossible, to increase the size of the Special Forces further without dropping standards, and that that would make them no longer special and no longer capable of the task asked of them. That comes from a former soldier and Defence Minister. The noble Earl might care to reply to that when he responds.

If we look at the size of the Army, the review makes it clear that the Government will continue their policy of filling the gap in the number of full-time soldiers by increasing the reserves. The SDSR tells us:

“We will continue to grow our Reserves to 35,000”.

Can the noble Earl tell us when this will be achieved? What of this comment from his noble friend Lord Attlee, speaking in the debate on the reserves in October, who said:

“I still think that the plan for volunteer reserves is deeply flawed—in particular, in trying to suggest that volunteer reservists will be identical to their regular counterparts”.?

He went on:

“They may be interchangeable and they can certainly be interoperable, but they are never going to be the same. There is simply not enough time for training to get to that level of proficiency”.—[Official Report, 22/10/15; col. GC 59.]

Is the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, wrong when he tells us that the shortfall in regular soldiers is to be filled by less well-trained reservists who will never get to the level of proficiency we demand of our regulars? I am sure the House will be interested in the Minister’s response.

In our debate on the reserves, the Minister recognised the importance of retention. Can he update us today on this matter? Can he tell us the rate of recruitment and retention? In October he said that we had “turned a corner” on this matter about a year ago. How far around the corner are we? Just a handful of the 90 pages in this review mention the Armed Forces at all. There are still many questions but time prevents me asking them.

Finally, I will say something about the SDSR telling us that Britain is,

“the world’s leading soft power”.

The Government have acknowledged the importance of soft power with an £85 million investment in the BBC World Service to support initiatives in Russia, North Korea, the Middle East and Africa—a point that was made by the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey. Although we recognise the BBC to be one of the UK’s significant cultural exports, can the Minister indicate whether the Government have given any consideration to recommendations made by the Select Committee on Soft Power?

Many BRIC and Scandinavian countries shape their foreign policies around explicit soft power goals; for example, China has opened 327 of a projected 1,000 Confucius Institutes, encouraging philosophical understanding of its civilisation; and Finland sends monitors to join the Red Cross in Ukraine, not just for humanitarian aid but specifically to get closer to the people and to understand their wishes and needs. Worryingly, the Select Committee report concluded that Britain is weakening rather than bolstering its soft power institutions. Especially following the events in Syria, it is essential that the Government begin to make soft power central to any foreign and defence policy thinking. I would be grateful for the Minister’s views on this. Perhaps he could tell us a little more about what might be done other than the planned investment in support of the BBC.

I am sure the whole House will agree that it is the first duty of any Government to look to the care and well-being of their citizens, and that must begin with the defence of our nation. So when the Government come to Parliament with a document such as this, setting out their plans for our strategic defence and security, it is only right that it is given the most careful scrutiny. That has been done all around the Chamber today.

National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, the House is grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Howe, for repeating the Prime Minister’s Statement. I am especially grateful to him for the very helpful briefing he afforded my noble friend Lord Tunnicliffe, the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, of the Liberal Democrats, and me earlier today.

The noble Earl, for whom I have great personal respect, has a difficult job. Our country, people and way of life are again imperilled. Not only do we have to contend with the conventional challenges posed by air, naval and ground forces, but we face the threat of those who would walk down high-street Britain and shoot and kill our fellow citizens. The days when Britain might engage in a conflict and send our forces into battle while those at home were, in the main, safe are now long gone. Today any strategic defence and security review must take account of that.

When in Government, my party had a proud record in the area of defence. It was a Labour Government at the end of the last war who committed us to an independent nuclear deterrent and who helped create NATO. The then Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevan, said of the atom bomb:

“We have got to have this thing over here … we have got to have the … union jack on top of it”.

Bevan made sure that his opponents were excluded from the Cabinet committee that took the decision. That is my kind of Foreign Secretary. Under the previous Labour Government defence spending rose by an annual average of 1.8%, resulting in the modernisation of our Armed Forces. We published Britain’s first national security strategy, delivered the first cross-governmental approach to forces welfare and strengthened medical care and welfare support for those serving in Afghanistan. I judge the Prime Minister’s Statement on the SDSR against that background.

It is the second SDSR of Mr Cameron’s premiership. The first in 2010 was not strategic and not about defence or security. It was nothing more than a cost-cutting exercise run by the Treasury. The Prime Minister has since admitted that his Government took 8% out of defence spending over the past five years. Under his stewardship, defence has underspent the budget that Parliament has voted for it. Such has been the enthusiasm to put saving money at the top of defence priorities that the planned cuts in the size of the Army, announced in 2010, have been achieved two years earlier than intended.

Before the 2010 general election, Mr Cameron promised a bigger Army, Navy and Air Force. In fact, the Army of today is smaller than the one we put in the field against Napoleon. The Royal Navy has just 19 vessels. We are told in the Statement that in the long term we are to increase the size of our frigate fleet. Can the Minister tell us what is meant by “long term”? The French already have 23 service vessels, the Russians 35 and the United States 105. Naval manpower is a real problem. My noble friend Lord West said only recently that 3,500 to 4,000 people were needed to man the fleet correctly. Can the Minister say what is being done to reverse this?

As for the Royal Air Force, the number of planes is at an historic low. We have to rely on the maritime patrol aircraft of our allies to track Russian submarines close to our waters, following the scrapping of Nimrod. That massive error of judgment has to be seen against a background in which the Russians have increased submarine patrols by 50% in the past two years. We welcome the decision to acquire Boeing P-8 MPAs but will the Minister confirm that it will be seven years before Britain has a fully operational independent maritime patrol capability? Today’s announcement of the F-35s is welcome, as is any move to strengthen our high-end military capability, but why has it taken so long to make this decision?

Why is it taking 10 years to create the new strike brigades of up to 5,000 personnel for rapid deployment missions? The world could be quite different in 2025. Does this decision mean that we are abandoning our capability for sustained deployment, which was set out in the previous defence review? Can the Minister tell us for how long these new brigades will be capable of being deployed?

One of the greatest challenges we face is cybersecurity. The Prime Minister has said that due to the threats posed by Russia and ISIL, Britain will be investing in cybersecurity. The Chancellor, speaking at GCHQ, announced that spending on cybersecurity would be almost doubled to £1.9 billion over the period to 2020. He made that statement after the director of GCHQ, Robert Hannigan, called on the Government to intervene in the cybersecurity industry because the free market was failing. Can the Minister say what the Government are doing about this? What projects will be part of the £1.9 billion fund? The Chancellor went on to say:

“Strong defences are necessary for our long-term security. But the capacity to attack is also a form of defence”—

I most certainly agree. He said that Britain is,

“building our own offensive cyber capability—a dedicated ability to counter-attack in cyberspace”.

Can the Minister tell us if such an offensive capacity already exists or is it just at the planning stage? If that is the case, what is the timeframe before it becomes operational? How much is being invested in the national offensive cyber programme?

I was in Paris the day before the attack; I was there again last Tuesday, and what a difference in the city in those few days. In view of the horrors of Paris, will the Minister comment on reports in the Daily Telegraph that our special forces have shrunk by 40% due to reduced numbers and restructuring, and will he comment on a senior MoD official telling that newspaper that,

“there is no point spending vast amounts of money on new kit if you don’t have the manpower to operate them”?

Still on personnel matters, noble Lords around this Chamber who have served or spent time with the Armed Forces will know that if service families are happy, the service men and women we send into conflict will have the morale they need to do the job—I am sure the Minister has found that in this time. Does he agree, therefore, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s changes to tax credits will be seen as a breach of the Armed Forces covenant? How well does he think ending annual pay rises for the forces will be received, if the Government go ahead with that? Is it any wonder that a survey by his own department shows that one-quarter of those serving in the Armed Forces plan to leave as soon as they can and one-third are dissatisfied?

The Prime Minister has committed Britain to a NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defence. We welcome that but worry whether it is another of Mr Cameron’s cosmetic creations. For instance, can the Minister say how including the £800 million we spend on war pensions as defence spending will help protect and project Britain’s force and military capability?

The tradition of Governments of both main parties in this country has been to show how much we value the men and women of our Armed Forces by giving them the tools they need to defend and protect our country and ensuring proper remuneration for them and their families. That tradition, I fear, has been spectacularly badly served by this Prime Minister and this review.

[Baroness Jolly (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister very much for the briefing that I received, along with colleagues from the Labour Party, earlier today. I am sure that the final form of this document was a result of the events in Paris and, as with all reports, the devil is in the detail. The debate next week in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, will give us all more time to analyse that very detail.

This strategy points to a more forensic and measured analysis than its predecessor, which is welcome, and it is appropriate to the times we find ourselves in. I will concentrate my remarks on the interconnection between defence and the world, our alliances, personnel and cyber. It is a complete coincidence that the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, has covered much of the same detail. On Syria, my leader has made it clear that he is not a pacifist or a unilateralist, and he is concerned for security of the nation. He will be outlining the conditions under which we would support military action in the next few days.

It is pleasing that the Government see our defence and security as requiring such a strong commitment to our allies and to international efforts. There are few issues that we face that can be addressed without co-operation, from climate change to transnational terrorism to state aggression. It is the strength gained from working with our allies and like-minded states, in particular within the United Nations, NATO and, of course, the EU, that will allow us to overcome and address these issues.

Our soft power capabilities—the British Council, international aid, the BBC World Service and our diplomatic representation—are valuable assets for spreading British values. A recognition of their contribution to our security and defence is an important addition to the SDSR. Will the Minister confirm that there will be no cuts to the budgets of either the World Service or the British Council? I am sure the extension of deep country expertise to a wider span of areas that are vital to our security and prosperity will be welcomed at the FCO, but will the Minister point to how this dovetails with the possible cuts in the FCO’s budget, which officials have said may,

“imperil the UK’s diplomatic capacity”,

if they go ahead?

Moving on to personnel, today I will focus on the Royal Navy and get into the detail of the other services in next week’s debate. Last week I was delighted to visit, with parliamentary colleagues, the two carriers, “Queen Elizabeth” and “Prince of Wales”, in Rosyth. They are an awesome sight and a tribute to British engineering and co-operation between manufacturers. While I welcome their addition to the fleet over the next couple of years, they bring with them a challenge. Will the Minister confirm that there are plans to ensure that there will be sufficient personnel with the right specialities to run the carriers with the Astute-class submarines, destroyers, frigates and support ship configuration? In particular, what action is being taken to ensure that there will be engineers at all levels of seniority and speciality?

As a member of the AFPS, I have visited service personnel in their workplaces, met families in their homes and spoken to senior officers and other ranks. I have to tell your Lordships that morale is not universally high. There is concern about salaries and allowances. Will the Minister confirm the rumours that the annual increment system will change, as will overseas allowances, as a result of MoD cuts? I welcome the move to support a service woman or man to buy their own home. A supported family is critical to the well-being of a serving member of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. Will the Minister confirm that the covenant will continue and, more importantly, that its implementation is being monitored by the MoD?

On cyber, it is important that cyber intelligence is shared, as many of our systems are shared with our allies and our partners. I am concerned about defensive cyber. Cyber threatens systems and, by its nature, much of today’s warfare consists of systems of systems, with millions of lines of code, all interconnected and interrelated. It is great that we are working with our partners and allies on this, but adding to the connectivity is a multiplier of risk. So I welcome the joint cyber group, but there is an urgent need for recruitment and training. Will the Minister tell us how quickly we can gear up for this joint cyber group as the need is immediate?

I should not finish without a nod in the direction of how the SDSR is to be paid for. I am aware that the Chancellor will unveil the CSR on Wednesday. The Liberal Democrat Benches welcome the commitment to 2% of GDP, but that is another issue where the devil is in the detail. Will the Minister tell the House what sort of efficiencies the MoD is expected to make—apart from selling land and property—that will have no impact on the smooth running of the department? If we are to believe today’s Financial Times, it will be paid for from the welfare budget and from cuts to police and in grants to businesses.

Royal Navy

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I am sure the noble Baroness will be aware that manning numbers are flexed according to whatever task the ship is assigned to fulfil. The bottom line is that no ship will ever go to sea unless it is fully manned for that particular task. For example, the Type 45 has a manning complement of 191, and for the Type 23 it is anything between 120 and 220. The manning situation in the Royal Navy is broadly in balance, although the noble Baroness will be aware of specific shortfalls that are most prevalent in surface and submarine engineer and warfare specialisations. There are a number of mitigating actions in place to address those issues.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

Keeping the seaways of the world open for trade and commerce is essential to the well-being of an island people like us, and means being able to protect our interests if they are threatened. I am sure the Minister and I agree on that. The head of the Russian navy has admitted increasing submarine patrols by 50% in the past two years and the chief of US naval operations has said that Russian warships are operating at a level not seen for two decades. He said that the Americans are debating whether to increase their naval presence in Europe. Are they doing that because they believe that Britain is no longer able to mount a response? Have they raised this matter with us? If we are asked to help, how many ships could we deploy?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I am sure the Russians are in no doubt of the capability that the Royal Navy can demonstrate. The Royal Navy has a robust range of measures in place for detecting and shadowing non-NATO naval units which may seek to enter our territorial waters without prior authority. We continue to develop new detection capabilities to maintain the operational advantage that we need. The strategic defence and security review currently under way will allow us to assess the full spectrum of submarine detection capability, including the utility of fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft.

Armed Forces: Reserves

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, for his kind welcome. As to my relationship with the Minister, I am sure that we each give as good as we get, but I rather suspect that much more unites us than divides us in how we should defend our country.

When I served as a Defence Minister my mission statement, put simply, was, “We will value our service men and women and do everything in our power to care for them”. Our most valuable resource is not the latest piece of kit but our people, and nowhere is that more important than in the Armed Forces. The first duty of any Government is to care for the welfare and well-being of their citizens, and I believe that that must include the defence of our nation.

The noble Lord, Lord Freeman, in opening this debate, has articulated well the important role that our reserves play in the defence of Britain. For more than a decade now we have seen the regulars and the reserves working more closely together, although there is clearly much more to do. Indeed in the Army, as a result of Army 2020, there is even greater demand on our reserves than ever before. This brings me to a particular worry: the mental health of our reservists.

The annual report of the Reserve Forces external scrutiny team, helpfully provided to us by the library, gives cause for concern. It points out that the protracted exposure of reservists to intense operations makes the matter of their mental health very important indeed. The team have a statutory duty to report on this matter, but they struggle to do so because of the paucity of data available and they doubt that UK Defence Statistics is in a position to provide them with anything better. What are the Government doing about this? Without adequate data, the external scrutiny team cannot be expected to carry out their duties properly. I appreciate that it is a big ask because the team themselves say that the department’s ability to track individual cases is very limited. I would suggest that one reason for this is that reservists’ first point of contact on health matters is the National Health Service. One problem there is the lack of signposting.

In late spring 2006 I was still a Defence Minister, and I was due to speak at the annual conference of the BMA. The telephone rang and it was Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said he was giving me the DCM—“Don’t Come Monday”—and I was no longer a Minister. Had I gone to the conference, my remarks would have been about signposting, urging GPs, whenever a patient presented with a mental health issue, to ask: “Are you ex-service?”. If the answer was yes, in addition to treatment the GP should point them in the direction of the Veterans Agency, as it then was, or organisations like Combat Stress. Is that being done now? If not, will the Government take it up with the BMA? I understand that GPs are encouraged to refer those patients with service connections back to the military healthcare system. Is that happening? Of course, such signposting should apply to our reservists, too. The scrutiny report recommends that the Armed Forces covenant team look at this. Can the Minister give us an undertaking that this will be done?

Many reservists who may be suffering with mental health problems may be inclined towards denial in case it affects their full-time employment. In terms of the ongoing duty of care, if a reservist has a mental health problem, what is the MoD doing to help with their domestic and employment concerns? Does the Minister’s department collect data from the Armed Forces charities that work in this field?

I spent a day with a Combat Stress counsellor, after I had ceased to be a Minister, visiting veterans and their families, discussing health, financial matters and domestic worries. What I experienced that day has been with me ever since. I visited homes and saw photographs of strong, healthy, young men proudly in uniform. In one particular case, sitting alongside one such photo, I saw a shrunken wreck of a man who will never be the same again. I met his wife and children, struggling to cope, living with someone they now hardly knew. I witnessed the care, attention, sympathetic understanding and practical advice that Combat Stress offered the family that day. After a couple of hours we left that home where the atmosphere and hopefulness was in marked contrast to the despair I had witnessed when I arrived. I have nothing but admiration for the Armed Forces charities that go that extra mile to fill the gap that we as a country are not filling.

Finally, the external scrutiny team offered to work with the MoD to determine how reservists’ mental health reporting can be made more effective. Can the Minister say something about this in his reply? Can he give us an assurance today that his department will act upon this request? Perhaps he can come back to us at a later stage with an update, perhaps as a Written Statement. We, and more importantly our reservists, should not have to see the external scrutiny team come back next year, unable to make progress because of a lack of information to protect and help in their welfare.

Defence: Procurement

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, on my noble friend’s first point, the very fact that one commercial bid team has submitted a bid shows that it believes that there is a potential deal and it can deliver against requirement. We have always known that running a defence acquisition would be challenging, which is one reason for testing through the assessment phase whether it can be done. As for my noble friend’s second point, he is right to recognise the specific needs of defence acquisition and support personnel to match the professionally motivated defence industry. That is why we are very clear that, whatever option we choose, we will need to work with colleagues across relevant departments to put in place the necessary freedoms of operation to provide our Armed Forces with the right kit at the right time and deliver the best value for money for the taxpayer.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

The only outside bidder left in this process is a consortium led by Bechtel, a company with a litany of mismanagement of public service contracts, from Iraq to Romania to the United States. In Boston, for instance, it was responsible for the Big Dig, a tunnel construction project that went $1 billion over budget—and two-thirds of the problem was down to its mistakes. Given its mismanagement of the Big Dig, if Bechtel gains control of our defence procurement, will not Britain’s defences end up in a big hole?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the answer is no. The materiel acquisition partner’s team comprises Bechtel, as the noble Lord says, PricewaterhouseCoopers and PA Consulting, a consortium of world-class private sector businesses. The team has extensive experience of complex programme management; between them, they have delivered programmes to the United Kingdom, the United States and to 140 other countries around the world. Bechtel has ranked as the largest programme-managing engineering and construction company in the United States for the past 14 years. Specifically, MAP members have been involved in the Crossrail and High Speed 1 rail projects, as well as the Jubilee line, and in transforming major businesses in both public and private sectors.

Armed Forces: Redundancies

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Touhig]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent comments by General Sir Nick Houghton, Chief of the Defence Staff, what assessment they have made of the impact of redundancies on the armed forces.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, recently General Sir Nick Houghton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, spoke of the huge challenges faced by our Armed Forces. Those challenges are being compounded by the Government’s policy of Armed Forces redundancies. The recent unjust treatment of soldiers made compulsorily redundant shortly before their full pension date is a reprehensible scandal. I raised this issue in the House on 22 July. In reply, the Minister declared:

“When selecting personnel of the Armed Forces for compulsory redundancy, no consideration was given to the proximity of the immediate pension point”.—[Official Report, 22/7/13; col. 1041.]

The Government’s lack of consideration has seen servicemen made redundant just short of qualifying for their full pension and consequently losing out on around £100,000 to £200,000 in income. Representations made by Pension Justice for Troops have revealed the shocking impact of this mean-spirited action on soldiers who are often called the “warrior generation”. One example is Major Braithwaite, who served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and was made redundant just 87 days short of reaching his full pension. Another is Sergeant Anderson, who enlisted at the age of 16 and was made compulsorily redundant just three days short of reaching his full pension entitlement. They had completed 98% of their service contract, yet are now to receive just 40% of the value of their pensions. This is a gross injustice, which has fundamentally altered the futures of these men. Indeed, Sergeant Anderson’s wife, Jolene, has spoken about how they feel, and said that, “financial security has now been cruelly snatched away”.

The couple had planned to use the pension to secure a mortgage on leaving Army accommodation. The pension exists to help our brave soldiers move with dignity to civilian life and it is unfair when just a few extra days’ service would have resulted in a pension 50% higher. The shameful treatment is a dereliction of the military covenant. I have in my possession a Ministry of Defence memo, in which a number of questions about the compulsory selection process are asked and answered. Two questions jump off this piece of paper. The first is: “At what point in the redundancy selection process were the outcomes for service personnel and their families considered against the values and standards of the Army?”. The answer: “At no point”. Another question is: “At what point in the redundancy selection process were the outcomes for service personnel and their families considered against the letter and the spirit of the Armed Forces covenant?”. Again the answer is: “At no point”.

I understand that the standards and values of the Army and of the Armed Forces covenant must be taken into account in these circumstances. Indeed, Queen’s Regulations say that they should, yet the Government have ignored that. This piece of paper reveals a lack of consideration that effectively renders the covenant a toothless document, with no real value to servicemen when it comes to their terms and conditions of service.

Last December the external covenant reference group, consisting of highly respected veterans’ agencies commenting on the Government’s own first annual covenant report on soldiers made redundant days before they qualified for their full pension declared that it was a betrayal of the spirit of the covenant. It is even more appalling that out of 11,000 Armed Forces redundancies, only around 130 soldiers have been victims of this sleight of hand. Robbing these men of their full pension saves the Ministry of Defence an inconsequential sum of money, but the impact on the lives of those affected and those who serve or are considering serving in the Armed Forces, is dramatic. Not since the notorious crook, Robert Maxwell, plundered his employees’ pensions have we seen an employer—in this case Her Majesty’s Government—so contrive a redundancy package to deny a small group of people, who have put their lives on the line for Britain, their rightful pension.

Under the previous Government full pensions were protected. That was done by reducing the length of service required to gain a full pension by four years. I am sure that the whole House will join me in asking the Government to think again and to look again at what they have done to this small group of loyal men and pay them their full pension. I ask them not to shame our country any more by neglecting their duty to our soldiers. This treatment of long-serving soldiers is having an indisputably negative impact on the morale of the Armed Forces. According to the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude survey published in July, one in three—30%—said that morale was low. This figure is twice what it was when the Government came to power. The current policy of redundancies is having a highly damaging impact on the morale of those who so dutifully and selflessly devote their lives to the service of our country. Last December, General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, told the Defence Select Committee that the issue of redundancies close to qualification for full pension was having a “disproportionate impact” on morale. These recent redundancies have not simply had an adverse affect on today’s soldiers but have damaged recruitment.

A leaked Ministry of Defence report, dated 6 August this year, highlighted the serious difficulties being experienced in recruitment. It shows that the Army is on course to recruit only half the reservists in 2013-14 necessary to fulfil the Government’s target. The report declares that there currently exists a “hostile recruiting environment”. One of the chief reasons for this environment is, in the words of the report, “redundancy downsizing”. It is no wonder that people are unwilling to enter the Armed Forces if at the end of a long and dutiful service the Government abandon their commitment to care for them.

The entire policy of restructuring the Army was predicated on the reserves being able to complement the Regular Forces. It is becoming clear that the Government’s policy of redundancies is undermining this very ability to expand the Reserve Forces, and is jeopardising the Government’s entire approach towards the Armed Forces. This policy increasingly seems based on pleasing the Treasury. The extent of this capitulation has been revealed in recent reports in the Daily Telegraph in which senior officers and Ministry of Defence officials have revealed that the Ministry failed to spend £2 billion of its budget. The detail shows that £200 million, earmarked for wages, has gone unspent due to more servicemen than expected choosing to quit. This cash pile, amassed by the MoD could maintain six infantry battalions—3,900 soldiers—for an entire decade. In Opposition the Prime Minister told BBC Scotland that he wanted to see the British Army increase in size. It now appears that his policy is entirely contrary, based solely on the consideration of costs.

An ill conceived approach has resulted in the shameful treatment of soldiers, an abject failure to uphold the military covenant and serious damage to morale within the Armed Forces. The policy of redundancies appears crafted entirely by financial considerations and a desire to please the Treasury, not military strategy. The Government need seriously to look again at the implementation of redundancies, especially ahead of further redundancies expected in the new year, and before our Armed Forces are damaged even more.

Armed Forces: Pension Scheme

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Touhig]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many soldiers made redundant since the Strategic Defence Review have reached full pension age.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever)]

My Lords, no soldiers fall into this category as full pension rights are granted only at the completion of a full military career. Personnel within the last three years of their engagement were ineligible for consideration under the redundancy scheme. The redundancy scheme that we have implemented is designed to ensure that all those made redundant leave by 31 March 2015, and personnel requiring full pension rights by that date would therefore normally leave anyway.

[Lord Touhig]

My Lords, following our last exchange on this matter on 20 June, I received an e-mail from a 35 year-old soldier who joined the Army as a boy of 16. He served in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan and was told that he had a future in the Army. Indeed, two months ago, he was promoted to WO2.

While he was convalescing following surgery, his wife attended an army wives’ event to discover by chance that he was to be made redundant; he had not been told. Further inquiries revealed that he was to be made redundant 24 days before he qualifies for full pension. He is set to lose £10,000 a year in pension. I am sure that the whole House will join me in wishing him well in his appeal against redundancy.

[Noble Lords]

Hear, hear!

[Lord Touhig]

When he returns to his department this afternoon, will the Minister review the redundancy package and, if necessary, come back to the House and reassure us before we break next week that no soldier who is prepared to put his life on the line in defence of our country will be made redundant in this cheapskate sort of way in order that the Treasury can save what amounts to no more than a few bob in petty cash?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I am sorry to disappoint the noble Lord, but we have no plans to review this. When selecting personnel of the Armed Forces for compulsory redundancy, no consideration was given to the proximity of the immediate pension point. I can tell the noble Lord that only 1.2% of those made redundant are close to their immediate pension point. As we reduce the size of the Armed Forces, our priority is to ensure that the services maintain the correct balance of those skills and experience across rank structures that are required to deliver operational capability now and in the future. That is what has determined our redundancy criteria.

Armed Forces: Redundancies

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Thursday 20th June 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Touhig]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the implications of the most recently announced redundancies in the British Army for the United Kingdom’s defence capabilities.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever)]

My Lords, the Chief of the General Staff and his team assess that the size and the structure of the Army set out in Future Army 2020 will deliver the level of capability agreed in the October 2010 SDSR and the associated national security strategy. The Army’s element of the Armed Forces redundancy programme is a consequence of the size of the Army being delivered under Future Army 2020 and as such there are no implications for the UK’s defence capabilities.

[Lord Touhig]

My Lords:

“There’s never been a better time to be a soldier, to get qualified and have a career”.

That is on the Army website at this minute. It further states that,

“there will be even more opportunities for people who want to enjoy the challenges that come with being a soldier”.

That is a sham. If there were any justice the Government would be prosecuted for issuing a misleading prospectus. The Minister is well regarded in this House, deservedly so, and perhaps he is here with a heavy heart today, but how much longer will the Government go on sacking highly trained, highly skilled, highly motivated soldiers who have been trained at great expense to the taxpayer and have served our country well, and, at the same time, spend an absolute fortune on advertising for, recruiting and training their replacements? It is a total waste of taxpayers’ money and is harming our defence capability.

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, no Government likes making these kinds of redundancies. While reduced recruiting and fewer extensions of service will account for some reductions, a redundancy programme is needed to ensure that the right balance of skills is maintained.

Defence: Procurement

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2013 Grand Committee

[Lord Touhig]

My Lords, last July the Minister repeated a Statement in your Lordships’ House in which the Government acknowledged the MoD’s historical budgeting woes. By now, most who are familiar with defence procurement agree that the Government underbudgeted and overassigned, that the Civil Service was challenged to manage such complex programmes because of its lack of expertise and skills, and that the policies of procurement unfairly burdened taxpayers. Clearly the Government now want to correct these failings, and it would appear that their preferred option is a privatised, government-owned contractor-operated partnership, about which we have already heard.

When one remembers the G4S security contract awarded for the 2012 London Olympic Games, it would seem that the Government’s record on privatised partnerships leaves much to be desired. I wonder also whether the Olympics security project suggests that even stable private partners struggle with assignments of unpredictable scale. The history of defence procurement over recent years certainly shows that scale is unpredictable. In an interview with the Defence Management Journal on 28 January, ADS chief executive Rees Ward warned that no country, and especially no military superpower, had adopted a government-owned contractor-operated scheme for procurement. In February this year, the Defence Select Committee in the other place expressed worries about GOCO and stated that it was vital that we consult our allies to ensure that there will be no adverse impact on co-operation. This point was made by my noble friend Lady Dean. Indeed, the chairman of that committee, Mr James Arbuthnot, said:

“We expect to be given more detail about the GoCo proposals”.

If the Government pursue this private partnership, that will require aligning with a company or companies that can manage a diverse programme of responsibilities and needs including armaments, supplies, training and the welfare of our nation’s Armed Forces. The partnership will certainly require invalidating or restructuring existing contracts, negotiating new business procedures, determining the Government’s ownership stake and rethinking the role of the Civil Service.

However, the GOCO strategy raises a series of questions that few in government appear to have considered. For instance, do the Government expect to find a private partner of equally diversified expertise in infrastructure—one that can manage acquisitions for Britain’s defence system? Can one partner reasonably manage an entire nation’s defence or will the partnership mean multiple private partners? Restructuring and managing Britain’s defence procurement operations is a project of paramount scale and importance. Considering the G4S summer Olympics embarrassment and the very costly outcome it had for G4S, is defence partnership attractive to the private sector or is the task simply too risky for investment? What happens if the private partner falls short of its commitment, as G4S fell short in 2012 at the Olympics? What happens if needs outgrow the resources of the business partner or, worse, if the partner goes bankrupt? Poorly thought out schemes are risky and the Government have exposed themselves to scrutiny without supportive answers to encourage taxpayers or potential investors.

I have three questions for the Minister. Will the Government consider wealth creation and job opportunities in awarding the defence partnership? Will they maintain a golden share of ownership in any or all of the companies included in the contract to operate the partnership? Will they share a company’s financial burden in partnership, and how will they scrutinise the spending of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money? The need to ask these questions reflects the Government’s overall indecision and unpreparedness on this matter. Until the Government prepare a more detailed position on procurement, we are simply left with many daunting and outstanding questions.