Reserve Forces

Lord Rosser Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rosser]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement made earlier in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State. The Minister will be aware that the information on the hardly insignificant issue of the net reduction of 26 sites that will be lost was not available when the Secretary of State made his Statement. The Speaker in the Commons described that as “woefully inadequate” and reminded the Secretary of State that he was responsible for his department. The information on the sites is now available but will the Minister confirm that, in future, when the Secretary of State makes a Statement, he—the Secretary of State —will provide both it and the supporting documentation at the normally accepted time?

Before I go any further, I should say that we support an enhanced role for our Reserve Forces working alongside our regulars. We pay tribute to those who have served, particularly the 30 reservists who have died in the service of our country over the last 10 years and the much larger number who have been wounded. We welcome much of today’s announcement, not least those parts dealing with increased training alongside regulars, investment in equipment, the changed nature of Reserve Forces, improved occupational healthcare and welfare arrangements—including, presumably, for mental health problems—and the intentions to address the issues surrounding potential discrimination against members of our future Reserve Forces in their civilian employment.

We want the increase in the number of our reserves to be achieved, not least because the Government appear to be putting all their eggs in one basket on this issue; there appears to be no plan B. Today’s Statement and White Paper follow on from previous Statements and the consultation document Future Reserves 2020. In the foreword to that document, the Secretary of State said that it marked,

“a significant step forward in our plans to build the effective reserves our Armed Forces require to provide security for the Nation in future”.

The paper also said that our Reserve Forces,

“will be an integral and integrated element of our Armed Forces”,

will be,

“routinely involved in most military deployments”,

and that our Armed Forces will,

“increasingly rely on the Reserve Forces to achieve the full range of tasks set to Defence”.

On the basis of the Government’s own words, the reserves will not simply be complementing our Army; they will be plugging some of the gaps left by cuts to regular personnel. However, when I asked the Government two weeks ago for an assurance that the size of our Regular Army would not be reduced to the intended figure of 82,000 unless the strength of our Army Reserve had been increased to the intended trained strength of 30,000, the Minister said he could not give me such an undertaking.

The Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010 addressed the issue of the commitments and planning assumptions that our future Armed Forces could be expected to carry out and the maximum level, extent and nature of operations they could be expected to undertake at any one time. Can those planning assumptions, set out in the SDSR in 2010 when there were 102,000 regulars in the Army, still be carried out with a Regular Army of 82,000 and an Army Reserve force of 30,000? Is the reduction in the size of our Regular Army to 82,000 dependent on our having increased the size of our trained Army Reserve to 30,000? If we need a Regular Army of 82,000 and an Army Reserve force of 30,000 to fulfil the maximum level, extent and nature of operations that we would expect our future Armed Forces to undertake at any one time, as set out in the 2010 SDSR, how can the Government allow the size of our Regular Army to fall to 82,000 unless there is, by then, a trained Army Reserve force of 30,000? If the reduction in the size of our Regular Army to 82,000 is not dependent on having first achieved an increase in the size of our trained Army Reserve to 30,000, that must surely mean that we will not have the manpower available that was assumed in the 2010 SDSR. Could the Minister confirm that this would mean less capability as a result and, if so, which capabilities would go or be reduced as a result?

The Statement has confirmed that the Government will be investing an additional £1.8 billion in the reserves over the next 10 years. How will that be divided between buildings, equipment, recruitment—including financial incentives—and pay? Will a trained Army reservist be regarded as having the same level of skills, expertise and experience as a comparable member of the Regular Army?

Some concerns have been expressed about the likelihood of increasing the number in our Reserve Forces to the required level. How is recruitment to our reserves currently going against targets? What was the situation in that regard last year? As for recruitment to the reserves, will new recruits be committed to staying in the reserves for a minimum or any other specific period of time? Will those receiving the taxable bonus of £5,000, to which I think reference was made in the Statement, be required to stay for a minimum period of time? What assumptions have been made about turnover in the reserves in future? How many people has it been assumed will need to be recruited into the reserves each year to sustain the greatly increased numbers in our Reserve Forces, including 30,000 in the Army Reserve?

How easy or otherwise it proves to increase the size of our reserve forces remains to be seen. A recent Federation of Small Businesses survey found that one in three employers believed that nothing would encourage them to employ a reservist, despite the fact that service experience provides people with organisational, team-building and leadership skills. It is of course possible that the financial incentives for SMEs announced in the Statement may change that position.

I reiterate our support for the enhanced role of our Reserve Forces. The move will also provide the opportunity to help to ensure that we can maximise niche civilian skills in a military setting, not least in the fields of cybersecurity and languages. It is also essential that those who want to volunteer to serve their country are protected in the workplace and do not suffer discrimination. That may not always be easy to achieve, since discrimination against someone who is not there the whole time can sometimes be very difficult to prove. I look to the Government to put particular emphasis on that point in the legislation and regulations that will follow.

We hope that the required increase in our Reserve Forces is achieved. The potential consequences for the defence and protection of our nation could be very serious if it is not.