HC Deb 22 January 1964 vol 687 cc1053-5
1. Miss Harvie Anderson

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will define the rôle of the Territorial Army.

The Secretary of State for War (Mr. James Ramsden)

The three basic rôles laid down for the Territorial Army in 1960 in the White Paper Cmnd. 1216 will continue. These rôles are related to the threat of general war and are first, reinforcement of the Regular Army overseas, particularly Rhine Army, secondly, aid to the civil power and support of the Regular Army in the United Kingdom, and thirdly the provision of a framework on which general preparations for war can be built up.

I should add that I have now decided, after consultation with the Territorial Army Advisory Committee, upon certain extensions to the first two of these roles. From 1965 the T.A. will be required to provide larger numbers of reinforcements for B.A.O.R. than hitherto, and as a consequence the T.A. will be more widely involved in the reinforcement and support of the Rhine Army.

I have also decided, as a result of studies of the conditions which would prevail in the early stages of a nuclear emergency, with which the second of the T.A.'s rôles requires them to deal, that they ought to be trained to deal with outbreaks of fire. The civil defence training which infantry and gunner units now do every fourth year will in future include this.

Both these developments will increase the relevance of the T.A. to the needs of modern war. Their implementation is now under discussion in Commands, and of course in close consultation with the T.A.

Miss Harvie Anderson

Will my right hon. Friend accept the sincere thanks of all those interested in the Territorial Army for that reply? Is he prepared to say whether reinforcements, particularly for B.A.O.R. and elsewhere overseas, are sent individually or in units? Since it is clear that the Territorial Army will augment the very stretched resources of the Regular Forces, will my right hon. Friend give an assurance that it will be equipped and trained in a manner suited to the emphasis laid on its preset it rôle and on its primary phase?

Mr. Ramsden

Wherever possible B.A.O.R. reinforcements will train together and be called out together as a sub-unit to go to a similar unit in B.A.O.R. On arrival, these reinforcements will be used at the discretion of the receiving unit, which is normal practice. The Territorial Army is involved already in the reinforcement of B.A.O.R. but the units in question are mainly administrative.

Under the developments I have described, "teeth" units of the Territorial Army will be brought more into the picture and clearly this will have a bearing on dress, equipment and training. These questions are all being studied and I shall announce the results as soon as I can.

Mr. Paget

Can the right hon. Gentleman assure us that the proposal to involve the Territorial Army in the B.A.O.R. commitment does not involve any proposal to reduce the professional element in B.A.O.R.? Is he aware that we welcome the proposal that the T.A. should take a closer and more intimate part in civil defence, which we have often said we feel should be its rôle?

Mr. Ramsden

I am obliged to the hon. and learned Gentleman. I will certainly give the assurance he asks for in the first part of his supplementary question.

Sir Richard Glyn

May we have an assurance that the new T.A. commitment to fight the results of a nuclear fire storm will not mean that the amount of time previously devoted to civil defence training will be increased at the expense of the time available for military training? What effect will this new arrangement have on the position of the T.A. Emergency Reserve? How will that be affected?

Mr. Ramsden

Each T.A. major unit now does civil defence training every fourth year. In future, half the units having this training in any particular year will be given training to cope with the fire hazard. No additional time will be spent on the civil defence rôle.

The measures I have described will give the T.A. additional relevance to general war. In the case of limited war and similar situations, the T.A.E.R.—which we hope to build up and make more use of—is already relevant and brings the T.A. effort into the field.