Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) morale and (b) retention of the suspension of training by the Maritime reserves for four months.

The Royal Navy has given full consideration to the effect on morale of the recent decision to temporarily pause some Maritime Reserves activity until the beginning of the next financial year.

This temporary cessation of some activity may result in disappointment for individual Reservists during the short period that it remains in force, but work undertaken by those on Full Time Reserve Service 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. This short term measure does not reflect our longer-term plans which continue to place an emphasis upon the Maritime Reserve.