Army 2020

Derek Twigg Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

General Sir Nick Houghton, who headed the reserves review and is managing the ongoing work, has consulted SaBRE and all other interested parties, and continues to do so, but I will be frank with my hon. Friend: it will be hardest to recruit from among small and medium-sized employers, because public sector and large corporate employers are much better able to offer the flexibility that reservists need, and much better able to see the benefits of having reservists in their employment. There is also considerable potential among the self-employed—people who perhaps carry out consultancy work—with the offer of much more predictable periods of training and deployment, which would enable them to plan for those deployments as part of their self-employed career. We will seek to recruit from SMEs but it will be the most difficult part of the ask.

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

Today is a dark day for the Army and the country’s ability to project sufficient force around the world in its national interests. I wish to ask the Defence Secretary a specific question about the reservists. He said that we will have enough in place by 2020—30,000, according to his written statement—but what if we do not? Has his Department done a risk assessment, and if so will he publish it?

[Mr Hammond]

The intention is to have a 30,000-strong trained reserve in place by 2018, but clearly much of what we do, including building up a trained reserve to 30,000, has risks attached. However, the management of risk is the everyday business of the Department and the Army, so of course we will have considered the risks and how to manage them. I am not sure whether I will publish the risk assessment.

[Derek Twigg]

Why not?

[Mr Hammond]

Because risk assessments and registers are useful business tools, provided they can be used internally as business tools—as soon as they become public documents, they no longer serve their essential purpose. But I will consider the hon. Gentleman’s question and write to him with a fuller answer.