Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Royal Naval and (b) Royal Marines Reservists have served on operations in (i) Afghanistan and (ii) Iraq for each year for which figures are available; what recent estimate his Department has made of the added value to each campaign of such service; what specialist skills Reservists have brought to those campaigns from their full-time civilian careers; what assessment he has made of how such skills would have been made available in the absence of volunteer Reservists; and what estimate he has made of the effect on the morale of volunteer Reservists of standing them down for a protracted period.

Since 2006, 95 Royal Naval Reservists (RNR) and seven Royal Marine Reservists (RMR) have served on operations in Iraq and since 2005, 180 RNR and 330 RMR have served on operations in Afghanistan.

As you know, Reservists bring valuable skills from their civilian employment and their contribution to operations is fully understood and appreciated. This year, Maritime Reserves have used their civilian skills on numerous occasions as part of the Defence contribution to the UK's Government COVID-19 campaign, providing niche expertise, including pandemic statistical modelling, chemistry and pharmaceutical expertise, communications, logistics supply and contract management.

The temporary cessation of some in-year Maritimes Reserves activity may result in disappointment for individual Reservists during the short period that it remains in force, but the current measure will not impact on any Royal Navy operational tasking. Activity undertaken by those on FTRS or Additional Duties Commitments will continue as normal; as will some Transformation projects that are deemed critical to meeting future Royal Navy and Defence outputs.