Dai Havard
Main Page: Dai Havard (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Mr Arbuthnot
My hon. Friend makes an important point. We say in the report:
“We note that Reservists are cheaper to employ so long as they are not called up. This will only prove to be a cost saving so long as future governments are not required to undertake operations. This will need to be closely monitored.”
I hope—indeed, I am sure—that the Government will do exactly that.
Mr Dai Havard (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)
The report is about Army 2020. It talks about retaining the regimental structure but building an adaptive and reactive force with an integrated reserve. There is money for that until 2019, but there will be a defence and security review in 2015-16. Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the resources and the integration quality, not the changes to the structure that have been outlined, will need to be re-examined at that time?
Mr Arbuthnot
The hon. Gentleman, who has been on the Defence Committee since, I think, 2003, and who knows more about it than any of us, is quite right. He will raise his points in the next Defence Committee inquiry into Future Force 2020, which will tie together all these issues in the reports that the Committee does to build up to the next defence and security review.