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Mr. John Smith: The hon. Gentleman has made two or three references to the budget. For the sake of the House, will he clarify whether it is his party's position to increase the defence budget? If it is, by how much would it increase it and where would the money come from?
Mr. Key: I seem to remember that question being regularly asked when we were in government and when we questioned Labour Members. They will have to wait and see. The hon. Gentleman will enjoy the suspense, but I assure him that we will not seek to have commitments and budget unmatched, as they are now. It is not worth the candle of the strain that it is putting on our armed forces.
As I say, there is a credibility problem with Ministers. During the recent passage of the Armed Forces Discipline Bill, it emerged that the Ministers driving through that fundamental change to the courts martial process had never been to a court martial in session. I know that the Under-Secretary of State for Defence visited the Colchester glasshouse during our proceedings. We were glad about that.
Then we had the astonishing statement from the Secretary of State that metal bashing is no longer a vital national asset. It does make us wonder whether any Ministers have actually sat inside an AS90 or Warrior-- I have--in which armed forces personnel train and use their professional skills as a matter of course. Metal bashing has a whole new dimension for them.
Metal bashing also seems important for the thousands of shipyard workers on the Clyde. I reassure the Clyde work force that I have visited those shipyards. I was incredibly impressed by the world-beating technology that is now the norm on the Clyde. That shows that some of our most traditional industries can adapt successfully to take on the world. It is deeply patronising of the Secretary of State to write off the employees of Scottish shipyards in that way.
I have visited the superb shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness that is producing the finest submarines in the world. For a Royal Navy submariner who is submerged for many weeks in defence of our democracy, metal bashing certainly seems important and is beyond question a vital national asset. I have also visited BAE Systems at Broughton, where 21st century aircraft metal bashing is beyond doubt a national asset.
As Danny Carrigan, Scottish Regional Secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, said yesterday:
- If MOD Civil Servants spin against Govan, we will continue to battle for Govan.
I have said that it is the duty of government to make assessments of what might go wrong in future and to listen to what is happening daily. Those are both functions of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, the other great unsung hero in defence of Britain's national interest is the BBC's monitoring unit at Caversham.
The BBC World Service is respected throughout the world, its audiences are increasing and it is meeting the challenges of new technology. There will always be a place for crackly, short-wave broadcasting. However, the World Service is increasingly widely available on local FM frequencies and online on the world wide web, as well as on satellite television.
The BBC is respected because it is independent of our state apparatus and because of the speed and accuracy of its news reporting. To achieve that, both national and World Service programmes depend not only on foreign correspondents, but on the 400 or so dedicated journalists and engineers, surviving on a tiny budget, at Caversham park.
Twenty-four hours a day, native language speakers listen to broadcasts throughout the world and make editorial judgments about the importance of some very obscure broadcasts. They nearly always get it right. It is not a secret service; it is not national propaganda. It is the epitome of fundamental freedom in a mature democracy. Almost all the information gathered is disseminated or archived. It is accessible throughout the world online.
When I visited the establishment only last week, it was extraordinary to talk to journalists in one of the original rooms, which was set up during the second world war, and to read the original typed records of wartime broadcasts--I dipped into the 1943 papers--while computer screens carried online information for assessment by a team of journalists.
I am glad to report that the Ministry of Defence routinely accesses that information, often not needing to wait for BBC interpreters because so many armed forces personnel are now expert linguists. The MOD demands and gets instant access to hour-by-hour information on the world's hot spots. I gather that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office prefers paper translations delivered by post a couple of days later.
Although I deplore the extravagance and crazy prioritising in some parts of the BBC, I salute the work of BBC Monitoring and its contribution to the security of our nation. Its total annual budget is under £20 million. Its two biggest customers are the MOD and the FCO, at about £7.5 million each, followed by the BBC World Service at £4.3 million. The MOD should resist the temptation to cut that vital contribution to the work of BBC Monitoring, which provides outstanding value for money.
We warmly support the Army's decision to require all units to take part in road safety training after the recent rise in fatal traffic accidents. Several years ago, I raised the question of military vehicle accident rates. I know that the Master Driver has taken the issue seriously. Please can the Minister, in his winding-up speech, clarify a recent statement by a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman, who claimed that accidents involving MOD personnel are below the national average? That directly conflicts with statistics that were published only a couple of years ago.
I declare my interest as president of the Salisbury Plain branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, which has a significant membership among Her Majesty's forces in
the area. We should all remember that it is usually drivers who cause accidents. Adverse weather conditions or poor engineering can also be to blame, but, more often, accidents are caused by young, inexperienced drivers, by inadequate training of drivers for the vehicle in question or, indeed, by inappropriate use of vehicles.Therefore, we are glad that the defence road safety committee is taking such a serious line. Please will Ministers report to the House with an assessment of the benefits to the military of participation in road safety week at the beginning of May?
Another aspect of safety and personal security, which I must ask the Minister to address, concerns retired personnel, from both the military and the civil service. We expect military staff to be vigilant and to take appropriate precautions for their personal security. When they retire, they should reasonably expect anonymity and privacy. Therefore, I was alarmed when I heard that a number of elderly retired MOD employees have been approached at home by aggressive investigative journalists in connection with work that they did many years ago. That has happened to six of my constituents.
I understand that the names of retired personnel have been obtained by trawling through the papers that are available under the 30-year rule from the Public Record Office. There has been no attempt to delete the names of any of the people concerned. It is fair that Ministers and politicians abide by the 30-year rule, but I am doubtful whether Parliament or successive Governments ever intended that the names of individual employees should be disclosed in that way. There could be real hazards from more unscrupulous individuals and organisations.
Mr. Dalyell: Is the reference to the present investigation by Wiltshire police and Detective Superintendent Luckett of matters relating to Porton more than 30 years ago? If it is, there is another side to the story.
Mr. Key: It is not exclusively that. Some of the people have been approached with regard to that, but there are others who have been approached for other reasons and in connection with another investigation. It is an important problem and I ask Ministers to look at it sensitively.
Against all the odds, the professionalism, dedication and loyalty of armed forces personnel remain beyond question. The initial excitement and glamour of the strategic defence review has evaporated--indeed, it has left something of a hangover among the armed forces at all levels. The wives and families are still determined to follow the flag, but Ministers are on probation.
The Army Families Federation was pleased to hear that some of the £17 million withdrawn from the Defence Housing Executive budget has been put back and that Ministers have promised the earth by the end of 2005. Those Ministers should not be surprised that a degree of cynicism has crept in. The latest edition of "The Families Journal" asks:
- Is this a breakable promise or an achievable commitment?
- Fundamental to our ability to field armed forces which are among the best in the world is the quality of volunteers who make up those forces. The MOD has introduced several measures to improve the
- lives of our servicemen and women and more are to follow. But the critical problems of undermanning and overstretch have not been solved. Indeed, the situation has almost certainly deteriorated since the SDR. The next twelve months must bring signs of improvement.
Her Majesty's Opposition remain wholly loyal to our armed forces personnel, to their wives and families, and to the thousands of people in the civil service and in other support operations. We shall continue to hold Ministers to account, uncomfortable as that may be for them. That is nothing less than our duty to the House and to Her Majesty's forces.
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