Select Committee on Defence Written Evidence


Further memorandum from the Ministry of Defence

  Further information requested following the evidence session with General Sir Mike Jackson KCB, CBE, DSO ADC Gen, Chief of the General Staff on 3 November 2004.[7]

  Q242.  How many of the 2,500 posts freed up by the reorganisation of the infantry will be used to strengthen each of the areas identified in Future Capabilities?

  As the Secretary of State announced on 16 December, some 2,400 posts will be redeployed across the Army's force structure as a result of the reduction in number of infantry battalions. We will be reinvesting in trade groups that have been in high demand such as engineers, logisticians and intelligence personnel.

  Over the coming years we intend to create:

    —  an additional commando engineer regiment which will enhance the support provided to 3 Commando Brigade. It will provide more engineering capacity, a planning cell and improved command and control capability. This enhancement will bring 3 Commando Brigade in to line with all the other brigades—who each have a dedicated Engineer Regiment;

    —  a new port and maritime squadron which will enhance the military port at Marchwood and the Sea Ports of Disembarkation capacity on expeditionary operations. It will also improve tour intervals in this very specialised logistic unit;

    —  an additional strategic communications unit which will improve the level of signals support available for expeditionary operations.

    —  provide a new logistic support regiment to each deployable brigade which will provide integral combat service support for medium scale operations;

    —  creating new sub-units enhancing the capabilities such as unmanned aerial vehicle, surveillance and target acquisition, bomb disposal and vehicle maintenance capabilities—all of which have been in great demand in recent times.

  The infantry will have 537 posts added back to make units more robust and less dependent on backfilling. The bulk of the add-backs will go into bolstering the Armoured infantry and Light infantry battalions to ensure they are more robust and resilient.

  We are also developing a new unit to provide dedicated support to Special Forces operations. The core of this joint unit will be provided by personnel freed up by the reduction in the size of the Parachute Regiment; but it will be a tri-Service unit, trained, manned and equipped for its specialist task.

  We are not yet in a position to say precisely how many posts will be re-invested in which capability. The Army are continuing to work on this detail and I hope that the final establishments will be approved in the next few weeks.

  Q333.  How is recruitment for the Territorial Army currently managed and will that change under the Future Capabilities proposals?

  TA recruiting involves all three Army Top Level Budget holders: the Commander in Chief Land Command (CinC LAND), the Adjutant General (AG), the General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland (GOC NI)—and the Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations, all of whom co-operate within an integrated arrangement that embeds the TA into the Army Recruiting Management Structure.

  There are no established recruiting staff or offices for the TA, hence each TA unit, sub-unit and TA Centre recruits its own members. The Independent TA—which comprises regional units organised into four sub-groups that correspond to the Regular Army trade areas of Combat, Engineering, IT/Communications and Logistics—tend to recruit locally. On the other hand, Specialist TA units—those that provide a unique capability that cannot be generated in the Regular Army[8]—recruit nationally. The Commander Regional Forces at HQ LAND is responsible to the Commander in Chief for setting global recruiting targets and priorities for the TA. These are cascaded down the LAND and Northern Ireland chains of command to unit level.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND MECHANISMS

  (a)  AG. Working within the Army Training and Recruiting Agency, the Commander Recruiting Group is responsible to Commander Regional Forces at HQ LAND for conducting all TA recruit marketing. He provides:

    —  Resources for all TA marketing activity.

    —  Provide TA national marketing.

    —  Supervision of the delivery of regional marketing through the Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations.

    —  Handling national enquirer responses.

  (b)  Reserve Forces and Cadets Association.  Regional Secretaries are responsible to regional brigade commanders for the delivery of regional marketing and TA Public Relations. They carry out the following:

    —  Plan, conduct and allocate resources for all regional recruit marketing.

    —  Pass national recruit enquirer's details to local units.

    —  Manage all regional enquiries.

  (c)  LAND. Commander Regional Forces is responsible for supporting TA recruiting by:

    —  Setting TA recruiting priorities and targets.

    —  Directing General Officers Commanding (of the non-operational divisions) and their Brigade Commanders in the conduct of TA recruiting operations;

    —  Directing Regional Brigade Commanders to co-ordinate all recruiting activity within their geographical administrative area;

    —  General Officer Commanding Theatre Troops within LAND is responsible to Commander Regional Forces for ensuring that all Specialist TA regional activity is co-ordinated through the Regional Co-ordination Committee.

  (d)  Commanding Officers and Commanders of Central Volunteer Headquarters. Unit commanders are responsible to their formation commanders for recruiting for their units. Detailed tasks are as follows:

    —  Plan and conduct all recruiting activity for their units, to meet In-Year recruiting targets as directed by their operational chain of command.

    —  Commanding Officers plan and conduct national Specialist TA marketing and regional events. They select Professionally Qualified Officers.

    —  Process potential recruits, from initial enquiry through enlistment to trained soldier.

  (e)  Northern Ireland. HQ Northern Ireland has delegated responsibility for TA recruiting to 107 (Ulster) Brigade who, whilst not in the LAND chain of command, take TA recruiting direction from Commander Regional Forces.

  TA recruiting is conducted at unit level, directed through the chain of command. TA units are supported with marketing and enquiry handling: nationally from Recruiting Group and locally from the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association. The latter act as a "local" agent for Commander Recruiting Group, conforming to the national TA Brand image and following recruiting priorities as set by Commander Regional Forces.

  There are no plans to change the way TA recruitment is currently managed.

  Q351.  A note on the estimated cost of implications (a) in the short term in connection with ending the arms plot and (b) in the longer term of the administration of the new system.

  There are three main costs associated with Arms Plotting:

    —  Re-location costs: On average (per battalion, per move) costs associated with moving are approximately £1.5 million

    —  Allowance and posting associated costs: On average (per battalion, per move) allowance and posting associated costs are approximately £2 million.

    —  Training costs: these are of course dependent on which role a battalion is taking on. The most substantial costs are associated with converting to Armoured and Mechanised roles.

    —  For an infantry battalion converting from Light to Armoured, training costs are approximately £3.2 million.

    —  For an infantry battalion converting from Light to Mechanised, training costs are approximately £0.5 million.

  With the end of the arms plot, infantry battalions will be fixed by role and largely by location, and the Army will move towards a system of individual posting. However, there may continue to be roles and locations that may require the continuation of the rotation of whole units; these will need to be considered on an individual basis in line with out intent to provide more individual and family stability.

  While it is clear that arms plotting is an expensive business, especially considering as many as 11 arms plot can occur in one year, the resource implications of the replacement system of individual posting have yet to be fully worked through.

PROPOSALS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SCOTTISH REGIMENTS

  The Committee asked for General Jackson's comments on the proposals put forward by the Council of Scottish Colonels for restructuring the Scottish Division. The Secretary of State has now announced that the 5 Scottish Infantry Battalions will be amalgamated into a single regiment that will be known as the Royal Regiment of Scotland and that the reduction will be achieved through an amalgamation of the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers. This decision is in line with the recommendation made by the Scottish Colonels. The Chief of General Staff and his ECAB colleagues believed that the proposals were sound.

GRAPHS

  In the margins of the evidence session, CGS undertook to provide the Committee with a graphic analysis of the manning statistics with which he and his ECAB colleagues had been working. Accordingly, a graph that illustrates moving average trend lines compiled from the data already supplied to the Committee.[9]




7   Ev 38-56 Back

8   The Military Provost Service-who specialise in Prisoner of War handling-is an example of a Specialist TA Unit. Back

9   Ev Back


 
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Prepared 17 March 2005