Defence Budget and Transformation

Nick Smith Excerpts

Monday 14th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to that issue. Many people have asked me—and I have to say that I asked the question myself when I first entered the Ministry of Defence—why we are making service people redundant but are still recruiting. The answer, of course, is that because the armed forces are a bottom-fed organisation, we need to recruit even when we are reducing the overall size of forces. I hope that the greater confidence and clarity about the future will be an aid to recruitment, and I am sure that the greater role that the reserves will play in our overall force construction will be a great aid to recruitment in the Territorial Army and the air and naval reserves.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

The life extension of the Apache helicopters will help while we wait for our aircraft carriers to have planes. How much is being committed to that?

[Mr Hammond]

I am not willing to specify a precise budget. I must correct the hon. Gentleman on a point of detail: I think that the Apache was due to go out of service without life extension in 2025—we will have aircraft carrier capability long before that—and this programme will extend its life beyond 2025. However, I cannot give him the individual line item budget.