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Mr. Brazier: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his generous words, but I honestly wonder what he meant by what he said. Is he saying that it is a significant achievement that less than one third of our TA units are commanded by reservists, whereas the TA regulations say that a reservist should always command such units unless there is no suitable candidate? Only four units out of 31 in the infantry are commanded by a reservist, while the comparative figures for Canada, America and Australia are more than 90 per cent.
Mr. Soames: I shall come to comparisons with Canada and America later in the debate. I believe that our achievement is remarkable. I am not saying that we cannot do better, but, in itself, that is a remarkable achievement.
As I said, I wholly agree with the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury about the cadet forces. There are, additionally, no fewer than 39 TA officers currently serving at colonel level in staff appointments. That provides a further source of influence and advice at senior level from a reserve perspective.
The strength of the TA, however--as the hon. Member for Motherwell, North quite rightly said--lies in it being part of the British Army. We have one Army, not two, and it is therefore right and proper that Ministers receive advice on TA matters through one Army chain of command. As my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury knows, however, Ministers seek direct advice from the brigadier TA at land whenever it is appropriate. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre (Mr. Mans) will agree that that is just the sort of advice that Ministers need.
I take great pleasure in being able to respond to this debate, which is the denouement of 26 years of loyal and hard service by my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood, who made his maiden speech on this subject. It must be very satisfying for him, after 26 years in the House, to see all this brought to fruition. I have been in the House for half that length of time and have been nowhere near any such achievement. He should be very pleased. I very much endorse what he said, and I note his experience of this matter and his support for my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury.
I should like to tell my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Mr. Thompson)--to whom I wish also to pay tribute for his many years of service, not only in the reserves and in the cadets--that I wholly agree with him that this is a national question, not a partisan question to do with some small section of the armed forces. The TA--[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Motherwell, North is being summoned by his pager, perhaps from on high. He is being called for, Madam Speaker. I hope that it is not bad news.
My hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood rightly said that this is a national matter. It is not something that involves only a chunk of our service life. The matter goes much further than the TA. Indeed, it goes to the ethos of service, to the encouragement of cadets and the importance that cadets, territorial and regular service life play in our national community.
In some excellent debates in Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for North Tayside (Mr. Walker) encouraged, among other things, greater use of the reserve forces. I am pleased to announce that the Royal Air Force Reserve has come forward with an innovative concept that will enable reservists to take their rightful place alongside Royal Air Force personnel who are engaged in operations.
The development of composite squadrons was foreshadowed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro), who, alas, cannot be with us today because he has been struck down by flu. He presaged the development of such squadrons on Second Reading. No one has been more unstinting nor more devoted in pressing for this important change in legislation. I know that the House will want to wish my right hon. Friend well.
I am delighted to be able to announce--I know that my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries will be delighted to hear--that the Royal Air Force intends to form a Royal Auxiliary Air Force helicopter support squadron on 1 October 1996, which will be based at RAF Benson.
Initially, the concept of working in an operational environment alongside regular personnel will be tested to establish how a composite squadron might augment the support helicopter force in times of crisis, if successful. The concept may well be extended to other operational roles. I am sure that right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the House will be pleased that the RAF has been able to come forward with an admirable further use of reserves in an extremely important area.
Mr. Wilkinson:
I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for making an announcement that will be widely welcomed in the House and throughout the country. Will the concept allow an overdue opportunity for one of the existing Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons to be resuscitated, together with a squadron badge and a colour?
Mr. Soames:
I am not able to make that announcement today; the whys, wherefores and hows are being examined. As my hon. Friend knows, nothing would give Conservative Members greater pleasure than to be able to do what he asks. I am sure that he can think of suitable numbers and badges. We may decide not to go into those matters today.
As an example of the sort of advice we receive from the TA and through the chain of command, I remind the House and those who served in Committee that I quoted
from a letter from the Brigadier TA, Richard Holmes, who wrote to me on whether an anti-discrimination measure would be useful. Those present in Committee will recall that he expressed himself forcefully and, I believe, correctly.
In addition to the Brigadier TA, there are corresponding roles in the other volunteer reserves. The Royal Naval Reserve has the Commodore Royal Naval Reserve. The Royal Marines Reserve has the Colonel Royal Marines Reserve. The Royal Auxiliary Air Force has the Inspector Royal Auxiliary Air Forces. Ministers, senior officers and officials regularly receive and seek advice from these officers. In addition, there is a TA colonel on the staff of the Director of Reserve Forces and Cadets, who advises specifically on volunteer reserve matters.
As my hon. Friend knows, I regularly see serving TA officers. I take the most careful note of their advice, which is often invaluable. I have extensive contacts in my capacity as Minister of State for the Armed Forces with the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve Association and with many serving TA officers at all ranks.
We wish TA officers to achieve higher ranks and to fulfil the demanding requirements of command and staff appointments. That means that they need access to relevant courses and appropriate opportunities for career development in the TA. We are therefore considering opportunities to increase the scope of TA officers to obtain the necessary qualifications for command and staff appointments. We intend especially to encourage a further TA presence at the junior command and staff college.
In addition, I am actively considering the possibility of TA officers attending the higher command and staff college. I aim to increase the number of TA staff appointments at lieutenant-colonel and major levels, which will help to broaden the range and experience of serving officers, and so fit them for a wider and higher range of command.
Mr. Brazier:
Of course, the appointments must be subject to the availability of candidates of the appropriate calibre. Will my hon. Friend give a pledge here and now that the posts will not be confined to candidates who are available full-time? Given that counterpart posts in Canada, Australia and many individual American states are ably filled by part-timers, can my hon. Friend confirm that part-timers will be allowed to fill those posts?
Mr. Soames:
If my hon. Friend can contain himself for one minute, I hope that I will be able to give him some news that may give him more pleasure than he has a right to expect.
It goes without saying that all appointments will be subject to the availability of candidates of the appropriate calibre who are able and willing to take up the post.
The post of Director of Reserve Forces and Cadets was intended to be full-time. However, it is often difficult to find suitable candidates from the reserves to take up full-time appointments.
The high-calibre individuals we would seek almost invariably have a challenging, rewarding and extremely demanding civilian career. It is not easy for them to drop that career for a two or three-year tour in a reserve job. The higher the rank, the greater is the difficulty, especially if candidates have been expected already to devote considerable time to command and staff tours.
The difficulties would have prevented us from appointing a reserve officer to the post of Director of Reserve Forces and Cadets on a full-time basis. I have therefore decided that the post should be filled on a part-time basis. That will give the services a number of possible candidates from whom to pick the officer best suited for the job. I hope that that will lead to an early decision on the appointment, which could take effect in 1997. I hope that right hon. and hon. Members will welcome that as a significant and important development. It underlines our determination to make the best possible use of the expertise available to us in the reserve forces.
The new clause envisages the creation of a part-time two-star post. The incumbent of such a post would find it, in our judgment, extremely difficult to undertake the tasks. He could hardly be held accountable for the activities of a large full-time staff, and he therefore could not hold executive authority. The post might be regarded as purely advisory, but the terms of the new clause are not consistent with that. In any event, such a senior adviser could hardly avoid interfering with the real responsibilities of the chain of command.
As I have mentioned, many sources of advice on reserve issues are available to Ministers. I receive frequent advice from my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries from my hon. Friends the Members for Canterbury, for Wimbledon (Dr. Goodson-Wickes), for Ruislip-Northwood, for Tayside, North and other hon. Friends, as well as from many other areas of what is now known as the reserve community.
It is also difficult to see how a TA officer who, by the nature of his life, will inevitably have spent only short periods in full-time military appointments, could obtain the necessary experience and qualifications to fill a two-star post with responsibilities that will necessarily go wider than purely reserve matters. To do an executive job effectively in the Ministry of Defence needs a different background and experience from that which a reservist will, with the best will in the world, by circumstance be able to possess.
We already have a two-star focus for reserves in the post of the Defence Services Secretary, to whom the Director of Reserve Forces and Cadets reports. As a regular officer, the Defence Services Secretary has the experience and depth of knowledge to integrate the advice he receives from reservists into the wider picture.
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