Air Cadets (Hansard, 23 November 1993)

§ Mr. Bill Walker (Tayside, North)

I thank my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces who is on duty to reply to my debate. I understand that he is unwell and suffering from ear problems. As someone who from time to time has had similar problems I sympathise and am grateful that he is on duty tonight.

When I joined the Air Training Corps in 1943 I never imagined that 50 years later I would still be directly involved in the corps or that tonight I would be introducing a debate on the future of the air cadets.

Tonight I shall look into the way in which I and other young people were motivated into joining the air cadets. I shall also touch on the history of the air cadets and examine the benefits for the individuals who join and also the massive benefit to the nation that comes from members of the corps. I shall look also at the recruitment situation for the Royal Air Force, which it directly enjoys from its control and funding of the air cadets.

First, I shall say a few words about the air cadets and their history. The air cadet organisation is a term used for the combined Air Training Corps and the CCF, or combined air force, RAF sections. The ATC had its origins in the air defence cadet corps and the first of the squadrons paraded in 1938, before the second world war. When those squadrons became part of the ATC in 1941 they had an "F" put after their number to denote that they were founder squadrons.

The aim of the ATC in 1941 was to provide pre-service, part-time training for young men destined to join the Royal Air Force or Fleet Air Arm. The corps reached its peak of 210,000 cadets during the second world war. In 1983, the rules of the corps were changed to allow girls to become members.

The corps was established by royal warrant in 1941 and the most recent royal warrant was in February 1990. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh is the Air Commodore-in-Chief of the corps. The aims of the air cadets are, first, to promote and encourage among young people a practical interest in aviation and the Royal Air Force; secondly, to provide training that will be useful both in service and civilian life; and, thirdly, to foster the spirit of adventure and develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship.

Later, I shall examine the benefits of those objectives, particularly as they will affect social values such as self-discipline and the wider preparation for life as mentioned by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister recently at the Lord Mayor's banquet. But before doing so I shall remind the House that the command and control of air cadets is via headquarters air cadets and that functional control is via the AOC and commandant at RAF college, Cranwell. That, in turn, is under the full command of the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Support Command. All that will be changed next year when the new command for training and personnel is set up.

I draw the attention of the House to the fact that the cost of running the air cadets in global terms is £30 million, of which, in 1993–94, the cash budget is £20.06 million. Consequently, it is wise to consider how the budget is spent, what, if any, are the areas where substantial 422 reductions can be made and, if those reductions were to be made, what impact that would be likely to have on the air cadets and in the community.

First, we must recognise that the air cadets today is a large organisation. There are more than 49,000 cadets, more than 10,000 adult volunteer staff and about 5,000 civilian committee members. Therefore, the air cadets makes a substantial contribution towards involving adults and cadets in an organised, disciplined and controlled environment. That is done through the 928 squadrons and 83 detached flights which are part of 40 wings and seven regions. In addition, there are 186 combined cadet force RAF sections in schools, most of which are public schools.

Many of the 928 squadrons and 40 wings are located in the large urban areas and a considerable number are located in and service inner-city and deprived areas. If those squadrons did not exist, other Government Departments and local authorities would be faced with the extra cost of providing additional youth facilities for the youngsters who are at present members of the air cadets.

Ministers urged the cadet forces to become involved with the Department of the Environment's inner-city initiative and, as I said earlier, without the air cadets the Department of the Environment in England and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Offices would be faced with the extra costs of providing additional youth facilities in place of the squadrons. I doubt whether they could provide, or would be capable of providing, an air interest as well. Therefore, many thousands of young, air-minded youngsters would be deprived of the vehicle through which their interests could be explored and nurtured. In addition, the RAF would be deprived of a source of good, highly motivated, disciplined recruits.

What is it that makes the air cadets a healthy, viable and vibrant organisation today, 52 years after the Air Training Corps was established? First, it is the flying and the gliding that attracts young people. That is what attracted me in 1943 and it is still a magnet that draws in young people today and probably, more importantly, keeps them in once they join. Secondly, it is the disciplined and organised environment which a uniformed body projects. Thirdly, it is the character building and self-discipline that the challenge of flying and gliding provides. I make it clear to the House that, without flying and gliding, the air cadets would be just another uniformed youth organisation.

The aim of the air cadets is to give each cadet one air experience flight per year and to give each new cadet an air experience gliding trip in his or her first year of service and then to provide suitable cadets with progressive gliding training. That is achieved at 13 geographically suitable locations—geographically suitable in as much as the squadrons can travel to the locations without having to spend hours reaching them.

Thirteen air experience Chipmunk flights are found at those locations. Those flights are staffed by a small cadre of full-time pilots and groundcrew, and there is an establishment of volunteer reserve pilots who, on a part-time and unpaid basis, fly the cadets. They have 48 Chipmunk aircraft, plus 12 more which are in use as reserve aircraft. The pilots and aircraft log up 24,500 flying hours per year.

The 27 volunteer gliding schools are similarly spread geographically. Those are manned by volunteer reserve officers and volunteer civilian instructors who fly cadets at weekends on a part-time and unpaid basis. There is also the air cadets central gliding school at RAF Syerston, which is 423 manned by full-time officers and groundcrew. The unit trains and tests the volunteer reserve and the civilian gliding instructors and also provides courses for cadets. The unit is an essential part of the training organisation and without it one could not maintain the volunteer schools.

The air cadets have a fleet of 150 modern gliders, of which 52 are motor gliders. I am pleased to tell the House that I am in current flying practice on the Vigilant motor glider. I am the vice-president of the British Gliding Association and I can say that the quality of the instruction and the professionalism of the air cadets gliding organisation is respected, admired, and envied throughout aviation and gliding both within the United Kingdom and abroad.

A 16-year-old who has undergone training with the air cadet gliding organisation and who has flown an air cadet motor or conventional glider solo is unlikely ever to seek a challenge or thrill by stealing cars or by joyriding. He or she will already have had his or her thrill. There is a real risk and a danger in aviation and only by mastering the risks and controlling the danger can the youngsters see their own self-development.

In my time, I have sent hundreds of cadets off on their first solo flights. It is a wonder to watch the increasing personal stature and confidence which stem from that flight. It is also wonderful to see the pride with which they receive their gliding wings and wear them on their uniforms. It is from such cadets that future squadron officers and volunteer gliding school staff will come. That is why the air cadet central gliding school and the RAF volunteer reserve training centre are important. Air cadets grow and train their own future officers and instructors.

There are also two adventure training centres, and 100 part-time non-publicly funded centres which are run by the wings. It is there that the Duke of Edinburgh award and other personal development practices are carried out. The policy for air cadets is directed by the RAF Board, and is advised by the Air Cadet Council through the Air Member of Personnel. The president of the Air Cadet Council is my hon. Friend the Minister. The council consists of seven civilian regional chairmen, a representative from Northern Ireland, the Air Officer Commanding Air Cadets and a representative of S10.

The Air Cadet Council's role is to recommend changes to the RAF Board to improve the corps' efficiency and image. It is responsible to the RAF Board for the overall running of the Air Training Corps and to formulate general policy. As well as the military input, there is an important civilian input into the policy and running of the corps. It all sounds very good. Why, then, am I raising a question about the future?

Surely any organisation that provided 3,275 gold, silver and brozen Duke of Edinburgh awards in 1992, that provides citizenship training, sports, adventure training, shooting and community projects and which sends cadets abroad on international air cadet exchange schemes and to Easter and summer camps, which were attended by 19,700 cadets in 1993 and where 17,400 places are proposed for 1994 must have a rosy future. That must be so when the same organisation has, in the past five years, provided the Royal Air Force with 60 per cent. of all officer recruits, 66 per cent. of all direct entry officers and 28 per cent. of all airmen and when it has also been actively involved in 424 many inner-city initiatives. However, I am worried about the future, as is every volunteer member of the corps. Why is that? Let me explain.

When I hear that, under the alternative options or the alternative assumptions, or any other form of "alternative", it is proposed to make cuts£or savings, as they are called £of 10 per cent. or, worse still, of 20 per cent., in the budget, I become desperately worried. I said that I joined the Air Training Corps in 1943. Since then, I have had the good fortune to have served full time in the Royal Air Force and given more than 12 years of my adult life to running an ATC squadron. I have also commanded a volunteer gliding school and served full time at the central gliding school. I have held a volunteer reserve commission and an Al instructor category for almost 40 years.

Let us say that granddad has been around the air cadets for a long time. He has lived through many changes, but what has not changed is the fact that it is the gliding and flying which attract young people to and then keep them in the corps. I get the same thrill today when I get into an aircraft or glider as I did as a cadet in 1943. I can remember my first solo flight in a Tiger Moth and my first solo in a glider as if they were yesterday. I still get an enormous thrill in sending young people on their first solo flight and yet, if savings of the magnitude proposed are to be achieved, I believe that gliding or flying has to suffer. A significant number of youngsters would be deprived of the opportunity to fly if, for example, a substantial number of air experience flights were to be stopped. That is what will happen if there are reductions of 10 per cent. or 20 per cent.

I strongly urge the Minister to examine all the RAF's assets before any hasty decisions are taken. I suggest that we examine not only air experience flights but the university air squadrons. There may be opportunities to make savings via the merging of the units and the tasks, the air experience flights and the university air squadrons.

Way back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the volunteer reserve schools did all the flying for the air cadets. They provided all the air experience flying and it was very happy flying because it was largely in Tiger Moths, which the cadets loved. I also remember what happened in the mid-1950s when the volunteer reserve schools were closed. We set up the air experience flights because that was the most cost-effective way of providing cadets with air experience.

Perhaps the time has come for a much closer look at the university air squadrons, which I believe that we must keep —let me make that clear—because they, too, play an essential part in making young people air minded and in giving them the right attitude to the Royal Air Force. We should take a closer look at the university air squadrons and air experience flights—their sights, tasks and activities —and consider a cost-effective replacement for the Chipmunk for air experience flights and the Bulldog for the university air squadrons.

I seek from my hon. Friend the Minister an assurance that the importance of flying and gliding will be maintained at their current levels; otherwise I fear for the well-being of the Air Cadets. Once volunteers lose faith, it is difficult, if not impossible, to restore it.

Birth is easier than resuscitation, so I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the proposal to cut the pay of the volunteer reserve officers who get paid when they attend full-time camps and courses. That is the only time they get paid. I suggest that camp is essential and that courses are a must because they are the only way in which we can train 425 our people to take command of units, to fly gliders and take air experience flights and possibly to command future air experience flights.

I also remind my hon. Friend that all evenings and weekends are unpaid and that volunteer reserve officers give their time for nothing. The volunteers give more than six days free for every day for which they get paid. I suggest that is a good deal for the Treasury, which may wish to consider expanding it elsewhere.

If we want to get officers into training and camp, there is not much scope for a reduction in pay. I mentioned birth and resuscitation. I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the Prime Minister's comments at the Lord Mayor's banquet. He said: Basic social values like self-discipline. Respect for the law. Concern for others. A great acceptance of personal responsibility and obligations … It is a wider preparation for life and it involves parents as well as teachers". He was talking about education, but his words also fit the Air Cadets. He spoke about learning the values of our society as well as the rules. Some people will say that those values are obvious; I suggest that some people have forgotten them.

I am not overlooking the time, as I have an arrangement with the Front Bench. Let us not forget the Prime Minister's comments. Air Cadets provide an environment for the values that he mentioned. If we reduce the flying and gliding, the motivation for joining and remaining in the corps will be adversely affected. Tomorrow's officers and instructors will go elsewhere and the air cadet units will wither and die.

In inner-city areas and elsewhere there will be fewer opportunities for young people to learn to be good citizens. RAF recruiting will be adversely affected and other Government Departments will be faced with funding alternative projects. Savings of 10 or 20 per cent. are not realistic. I seek an assurance that no hasty action will be taken to achieve such reductions and that the future of the Air Cadets will be secure under the Government.

§ The Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr. Jeremy Hanley)

I congratulate my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker) on securing the debate. I also draw attention to the presence of my hon. Friends the Members for Leeds, North-East (Mr. Kirkhope), who is a qualified pilot; for Thanet, North (Mr. Gale), from the armed forces parliamentary scheme; for Berkshire, East (Mr. MacKay), whose knowledge of defence is second almost to none; and for Stevenage (Mr. Wood), who has also served with my hon. Friend the Member for Berkshire, East in the Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office. Their interest is worthy of note just as is the fact that no interest whatsoever has been shown by the Opposition.

We are talking not just about air cadet organisations; we are talking about an inspiring group of young people who have the ability not only to bring themselves together during their spare time to become part of our forces but to learn discipline and dedication both to the country and to the Air Training Corps.

To some degree, all the comments that I shall make about the air cadets will apply broadly to the other cadet forces, which also do an excellent job. There are just over 40,000 cadets in the Air Training Corps and some 8,500 in the RAF sections of the combined cadet force, giving a 426 total of nearly 50,000 cadets. There are more than 900 squadrons divided into 40 wings throughout the United Kingdom. The country is divided into seven regions, each with a regional commandant, and the permanent staff throughout the country numbers just over 250. However, that is clearly insufficient to run a successful air cadet organisation and I must therefore pay tribute to the many volunteers—as my hon. Friend said, the majority of whom are unpaid—who give their time to the running of the corps.

One of the objectives of the Air Training Corps is to foster a spirit of adventure and develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship. Of equal importance, the corps also promotes and encourages a practical interest in aviation and provides training that will be useful in the services and civilian life.

My hon. Friend described how the corps meets those objectives. He mentioned flying, gliding, camps at RAF stations at home and abroad, sport, adventure training, shooting and, equally important, through the community projects, citizenship training. He mentioned the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme and he may take comfort from the fact—I hope that the House will be impressed—that in 1992 some 3,275 gold, silver and bronze awards were made to air cadets.

Cadet forces do not exist as recruiting agencies for the armed forces, although it is clear that membership of them encourages an interest in the services among young people considering a life in one of them as a career. My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Defence is president of the Air Cadet Council and takes a keen interest in the cadet forces. He is especially keen to strengthen the links between the cadets and the community at large and, to that end, officials from the MOD have been tasked with finding ways to involve the cadets to an even greater extent in the local community. Initiatives such as the Department of the Environment's action for cities programme and city challenge aim to bring together and give new focus to a range of programmes to promote regeneration in inner-city areas.

Some 80 Air Training Corps squadrons currently exist in the areas identified for those initiatives. Most urban units are already thriving but could still benefit on similar lines to those involved in the schemes, as nearly all serve a community need.

The cadets have a high awareness of the need to consider the communities from which they come and those less fortunate than most. Many individuals and organisations have benefited from the kindness, generosity and unstinting help given by the cadets' volunteer staff and parents. That is because the essential column of the corps' philosophy is to promote good citizenship. Discipline is a much maligned work these days and there is more to good citizenship than just that. But the cadets foster values that would do much to engender a proper sense of social responsibility and altruism if applied more widely. My hon. Friend's description of that was graphic.

The Ministry of Defence must ensure that we achieve value for the funds allocated to various activities. The air cadet organisation is no different in having to prove its cost-effectiveness and efficiency in these difficult times. A balance must be made between the aims of the air cadets and the value for money which they represent to the MOD. The air officer commanding the air cadets has recently undertaken a review of the organisation and implemented 427 several measures to bring the organisation into line with the changes taking place within the Ministry of Defence as a whole.

Wide-ranging changes face the armed services and cadet organisations cannot escape some of the effects of those changes. The air cadets must consider ways to increase efficiency still further and ensure that value for money is obtained in all its activities. Each year, we must consider carefully its funding arrangements in competition with other demands on the defence budget. But I confirm that we have no intention of changing the spirit or traditions of the ATC.

A recent internal report made a number of recommendations for improvement in the management and financial procedures of the corps and all the recommendations on the financial procedures have been, or are being, put into action.

On voluntary support for the corps, it is heartening that more than 10,000 adult volunteer staff are assisting the Air Training Corps and Royal Air Force sections of the combined cadet force. There are also 5,000 civilian members. Of those volunteers, many people have served in 428 the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve training corps. The many adult warrant officers, civilian instructors and chaplains all play a vital role in meeting the corps' objectives.

We can be proud of the air cadet organisation. At the same time, we must recognise that it is not immune from changes taking place within the Ministry or from the severe budgetary pressures facing us. None the less, the cadets are given and will continue to be given exciting and demanding challenges and excellent training. Those are solid bricks for them to build on for a career in the armed services or civilian life. Moreover, in some of the most deprived urban areas they provide a focus towards becoming good citizens.

The air cadets represent the only RAF presence in many parts of the United Kingdom and provide a focus for many young people in inner-city areas and remote rural communities. In return, the RAF achieves a high profile in society as a whole and, as an adjunct, a high proportion of well-motivated recruits stay in the service longer and give a better return on our training investment.

The House is therefore grateful to my hon. and gallant Friend for raising this important subject.