Liam Fox questions Government over TA cuts

Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has asked an Urgent Question in the House of Commons about cuts in training for army reservists.

Fox said that "whether an individual is deploying on operations or not, regular and routine training is required to ensure medium and long term readiness levels in the TA for any future deployments to Afghanistan or somewhere else unforeseen".

The cuts in training are having a dramatic effect on the crucial ongoing training available to reservists. Fox asked Government Minister Bill Rammell the following specific questions about them:

1. "The Government has previously said that they ‘always finance our military commitments overseas out of the reserve.’ The Secretary of State stated that: ‘we are adjusting the core defence budget to reprioritise Afghanistan.’ Some of us are surprised that it’s not already the No.1 priority, but if it is fully funded from the Reserve, why are they cutting the core budget of the TA by £43m?"
2. "We know that due to the recession and the major recruitment drive in the past year there are more recruits in the Regular Army than there is money to train them. The Government have demanded savings from other places within the Army to fund this. Why did the Government not plan to fund its own target numbers for recruitment—especially in a war?"
3. "Does the Government really understand the ethos of volunteering or the effect this could have on future available numbers? For many the TA is a habit: break the habit, break the TA."
4. "Pre-deployment training is only of use if you have the numbers to start with. Is it not the case that pre-deployment training is meant to augment and not supplant routine TA training, so routine training is just as important as pre--deployment training?"