Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve (Hansard, 13 May 1971)

§ 1. Major-General Jack d'Avigdor-Goldsmid
asked the Minister of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of recruiting for the Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Army (Mr. Geoffrey Johnson Smith)
The new units of the T. & A.V.R., which require an establishment of about 10,500, started to recruit on 1st April, 1971. No firm strength figures for these units are yet available, but preliminary returns indicate that their volunteer strength at the end of the month, including applications being processed, was already about 3,000—that is to say, nearly one-third of their total requirement in one month's recruiting.

§ Major-General d'Avigdor-Goldsmid
I thank my hon. Friend for that very satis- 594 factory answer. May I take this opportunity to congratulate him on answering Questions on defence from the Despatch Box for the first time? How is the process proceeding of producing the equipment and uniform for these new units?

§ Mr. Johnson Smith
I thank my hon. and gallant Friend. There were a very few minor difficulties when recruiting started at the beginning of April. There were no difficulties of which I am aware over equipment and the issue of uniforms is proceeding satisfactorily.

§ Mr. Crawshaw
Are there any plans to increase this ceiling of 10,000 in the near future? Would the hon. Gentleman agree that, while it is important that we get more numbers, it is equally important that we maintain the high efficiency which has come about over the last years in the reserve forces?

§ Mr. Johnson Smith
Our general task is to achieve the target of 10,500. I accept the hon. Member's point about quality.

§ Mr. Marten
Has there been any advance in the proposition for country yeomanry regiments, whereby every county could provide a squadron to form three-county yeomanry regiments?

§ Mr. Johnson Smith
None of which I am aware.

§ Mr. Rankin
During a former period of greater activity, the Territorial Army possessed many halls which were of great use to them. Will any attempt be made to recover the use of those halls, or will some substitutes be found?

§ Mr. Johnson Smith
Where there is a difficulty, I will look into it. Some halls have been sold off and one has to bear in mind the cost of reacquiring them. But I will look into any difficulty.