Armed Forces Bill

Debate between Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard and Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie

Committee stage
Tuesday 8th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (UUP)]

My Lords, before my brief comments on this group of amendments, I want to pay tribute to the Minister for his attendance at the most westerly constituency of the United Kingdom last weekend in County Fermanagh, when he visited the two-day RAF recruitment event just outside Enniskillen. It was very successful. We had a huge number of interested organisations and a number of interested young people who clearly want to be part of the defence forces in the years to come, particularly the RAF. I thank the Minister for that.

There are reasons to support these amendments, two of which we in Northern Ireland are very cognisant of, just as they are in Scotland and Wales: regionalism and localism. If you do not have local support and those who represent you, you do not feel part of it. That is a huge issue for the reserve forces and cadets associations, because these are people who may join or may at least have sympathy for our forces in the years and generations to come. It is about encouragement and ensuring that they have representation. It is important that that regionalisation and localisation is there for them. It is there for them, not just for us, and if they do not feel part of it, they will not participate fully in that process.

It comes down to a number of issues. The reserve forces and cadets associations are hugely important not just for the future of the services but for discipline, commitment, loyalty and colleague support. Those are excellent values to give to young people, which they can promote to their peers, friends and colleagues. This is not only about the amendments; it goes much wider. RFCAs offer huge organisational support for the community and individuals. I witness so many people who do not have that discipline or commitment to their families, or, indeed, their community, but it is instilled within the reserve forces and cadets associations.

I plead to the Minister and the Government to have a look at this. Maybe there are some tweaks and options to make this better, but please allow the people who are serving—reservists and those in the cadets associations—to feel part of things through that local support.

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)]

My Lords, I do not propose to repeat what we said in an earlier debate in Committee, but I thank my noble friend Lord De Mauley for these amendments. I want to focus on Amendment 48 and the importance of volunteering.

The Sullivan report identified that a key strength of the RFCAs was their extensive volunteer membership. In every other part of our communities, we are doing everything we can to support volunteers and volunteering, and in times of tight financial straits especially, we seek to appreciate the knowledge of volunteers. I am afraid my heart sinks when I think of replacing the volunteers who represent the voice of our local regions, nations and communities. They bring experience and institutional memory, and they do it because they want to—and we are going to replace that with board appointments made on ministerial advice.

I am sure many colleagues in this House have experience of public appointments. I currently sit on two public bodies as a board member, to which I am appointed by one Scottish Minister and one Westminster Minister. We are subject to the whims of that department. In one case, DCMS has apparently decided that public appointments should serve for only one term. I leave it to you as to how that supports institutional memory and succession planning in our public bodies. At Creative Scotland, on whose board I sit, we are currently four or five board members short, and the public appointment process is so slow that we are not able to get to the front of the queue to fill those vacancies. So the idea that the wonderful volunteers we currently have supporting our reserve forces and cadets associations are going to be replaced by some sort of NDPB board appointments fills me with horror: we will end up with the usual suspects, rather than experienced and committed volunteers who are allowed to speak impartially, freely and frankly.