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Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate): Since the Secretary of State is in denouncing ill-informed press speculation mode, perhaps he will extend that to Warship World, which has informed us that, under the long-term costings, Invincible and Fearless will be transferred to the reserve, along with about seven mine counter-measure vessels and three Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships. As he is rubbishing press speculation, is he in a position to deny that all that is true?
Mr. Hoon: I thought the hon. Gentleman was in the House for Defence questions yesterday, when the same point was made. I made it clear then that there is no truth in that speculation. Whatever the alleged quality of the publication, the hon. Gentleman would do well not to believe all that he reads.
Our amphibious capability will be transformed over the next few years, when the new assault ships Albion and Bulwark enter service. They will complement the new helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, which I had the privilege to visit during a major multinational amphibious exercise off the coast of Egypt last October. We also have plans to acquire new destroyers, frigates and nuclear powered submarines and two new aircraft carriers--the largest vessels to be ordered for the Royal Navy since the second world war. All our attack submarines will be equipped with the highly accurate Tomahawk land attack missile, which was used to such precise effect during the Kosovo campaign. We are tripling the size of our strategic lift capability, and constructing two new auxiliary oilers. It is no wonder the First Sea Lord commented that that
represents the best forward-looking equipment programme that he can remember during all his time in the Navy. Taken together, those measures will mark a step change in the Royal Navy's capability.
Mr. Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green):
Will the Secretary of State explain what he means by "under normal budget constraints"? He sets the budget, so the commanders-in-chief have to live within its limits. When he set the budget, why did he reduce the fuel bill for the Navy by a quarter and then reinstate it as a result of other changes?
Mr. Hoon:
As the hon. Gentleman is well aware, the budget is set for a year. One of the innovations that we have been able to introduce is to allow budget holders to determine levels of activity over the course of the year. In those circumstances, it is right and proper that the Navy should make those determinations in the light of the budget. We have allowed that process and it is working most successfully. That is why we have received positive endorsements from leading figures in the armed forces.
I accept that some exercises have been cancelled. The Select Committee report picked up on that matter. There is always a need to strike a balance between the requirements to train our people, to meet operational commitments, to live within resources and not to place unnecessary burdens on personnel and their families. I spend more time thinking about the problems created by the armed forces being asked to do too much than I do thinking about almost anything else. We have now got the balance right. Our forces are up to meeting any likely operational requirement--and they will meet it effectively.
There have been suggestions that large parts of the RAF are grounded. That too is nonsense. The RAF has deployments in the Balkans, Italy, the Gulf and the Falklands. That huge programme of activity is being maintained with sufficient resources, aircraft and pilots. Operations necessarily mean that some routine tasks must come second, but not at the expense of safety. Certainly, we need more pilots, but the RAF has more than achieved its recruitment target this year, and a number of measures are in hand to improve retention.
Mr. Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale):
The Secretary of State referred to safety in RAF training. Will he say more about that in relation to my constituents in Cumbria? They accept the absolute primacy of national security, but they were most concerned about some of the reports as to the possible causes of the air crash in Shap, in Cumbria, at the end of last year. Will the right hon. Gentleman give a categoric assurance to the people of Cumbria, and of other areas affected by low-flying aircraft, that no reductions will interfere with the primacy of safety--of people in the air and on the ground?
Mr. Hoon:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue. I have just given that assurance. Safety is paramount and will continue to be so--both for those who fly the aircraft and for his constituents on the ground. I am happy to be able to repeat the assurance that I gave him in writing when he properly raised those matters with me.
We are spending £140 million making good the under-investment in the Defence Medical Services and the demoralisation of their staff that we inherited. The former Second Sea Lord commented:
Mr. Hayes:
Does the Secretary of State agree with the Select Committee on Defence that medical services in the armed services are in a state of crisis, which is the term that the Committee used?
Mr. Hoon:
No, I do not accept that medical services are in a state of crisis, but I accept that work has to be done. That is precisely why we have allocated £140 million to address the issue.
That money is part of a continuing programme of modernisation. In the last few months alone, we have approved a wide range of new equipment measures: production of the airborne stand-off radar system, worth some £800 million; the assessment phase of the future aircraft carrier and studies on the type-45 destroyer programme, worth a potential £100 million in all; more Rapier surface-to-air missiles, worth £200 million; and an upgrade of RAF Harrier engines, worth £120 million.
The Government's record on defence is there to be judged by the House. We rightly demand the best for our excellent armed forces. However, we would like to be judged on what we are doing, not on what others sometimes claim that we are not doing.
I have talked a lot about equipment. Let me now talk about the men and women of the armed forces. We made our policy for people a central component of the strategic defence review, because we know how vital recruiting and retaining the best people is to our defence capability. We said that we would introduce measures to improve recruitment and retention, and we have.
I mentioned, when I launched the White Paper last December, that I was determined to tackle overstretch. This has been a tough challenge. We inherited an Army undermanned by more than 5,000 people. On top of that, during the strategic defence review, we identified a requirement for more than 3,000 new posts. Despite that shortfall, our forces performed magnificently last year, at the expense of ever more overstretch. We are now making progress. Recruiting is buoyant. Last year, recruitment figures for all three services were the best in a decade. However, the key to tackling overstretch is to stem the flow of skilled people leaving the forces.
We have now made huge strides in reducing commitments. The latest reductions in the Balkans, when fully implemented in the spring, will bring down the percentage of the Army preparing for, deployed on, or recovering from, operations to 28 per cent., compared to 47 per cent. at the height of the Kosovo campaign. That means that we will have reduced commitments below the level that we inherited. During that period, our force levels in Bosnia will have reduced by more than 2,500 and in Kosovo by 6,500. We have also made smaller reductions in other areas such as the Gulf and the Falklands.
I am also pleased to tell the House that improvements in the security situation in Northern Ireland have enabled us to make significant reductions there. Force levels are now well below 15,000, their lowest level since the 1970s, and 30 installations have been closed. We have been able to make those reductions in the Army's presence in Northern Ireland as a result of the peace process. Of course, we want to make more progress, but I make it clear that further reductions in the military presence must be justified solely in terms of the security situation.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made it clear, not least in the House, that the Government cannot and will not contemplate anything that suggests any equivalence between the security forces and terrorists. There is no gun-swap plan and there is no way in which such equivalence would be acceptable.
Mr. Brady:
The Secretary of State has partly answered the point that I was going to make. However, will he give an absolute guarantee in the House, so that it is clear to the public and to those in Northern Ireland who are trying to give the opposite impression, that the commitment of British troops to the Province is to protect the public and law and order and that they will not, in any circumstances, be allowed to enter negotiations with Sinn Fein-IRA?
Mr. Hoon:
I have just given that assurance. The security forces are there to assist the police in performing a valuable security function, and they will continue to do so as long as necessary.
"I have been greatly reassured that two successive Secretaries of State and armed forces Ministers have shown greater interest in the welfare of our people than I have ever known before."
The focus of our investment remains to bring our forces up to the standard where they can operate entirely successfully within the structures set out by the strategic defence review.
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