§ 6. Mr. Gordon Campbellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Army reserves.
§ Mr. ReynoldsI would refer the hon. Gentleman to my statement on 28th November.—[Vol. 774; c. 739–48.]
§ Mr. CampbellDo the Government propose to extend the commitment of any of the 160,000 men who would otherwise be released from the Army General Reserve in June 1969?
§ Mr. ReynoldsI have nothing to add on that point to the statement which I made on the 28th, namely, that I shall be making a statement on it in due course.
§ Mr. CrawshawWill the right hon. Gentleman elaborate on something which he did not answer on Monday on the cadres of eight men. In what circumstances does be visualise these being expanded, and what categories of men would be called into these cadres?
§ Mr. ReynoldsThe principle role of the cadres is to support designated TAVR II units with whom they will be working. Once that task is finished, after mobilisation they will be available for any other military purpose for which they are required, but their main task is to support the TAVR II.
§ Mr. RamsdenWill the right hon. Gentleman assist us all by confirming that these tongue-twisting categories among the voluntary reserves, which we all find so difficult, need no longer be bothered about, because all units now in the voluntary reserve, including the cadres, will form part of the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve?
§ Mr. ReynoldsThe right hon. Gentleman is almost right; there will be two categories. People tend to forget Category 4 in which there are a number of unusual types of units. So far as the tongue-twisting side is concerned, there were three categories before 1967.