Recruitment Advertising (Hansard, 9 March 1998)

§ 3. Sir Sydney Chapman
What amount and proportion of his Department's annual expenditure was allocated to recruitment advertising in 1997–98. [31405]

§ Dr. Reid
Some £22.71 million was allocated to service and Ministry of Defence civilian recruitment advertising in the financial year 1997–98. That represents 0.1 per cent. of the Department's expenditure allocation for the year.

§ Sir Sydney Chapman
I am grateful for that reply. On reflection, does the Minister agree that probably the greatest disincentive to recruiting people into our armed services in recent years has been the cases of Privates Clegg and Thain and of Guardsmen Fisher and Wright? Given the extreme anger felt by so many of my constituents at the continuing imprisonment of the two Scots guardsmen, will the hon. Gentleman have a word with the appropriate ministerial colleagues, including the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, to find out what Government action can be taken, as the issue has now become very much a political one?

§ Dr. Reid
As the hon. Gentleman would expect, I shall take the same position as all previous occupants of this ministerial post—I shall not intervene in the judicial process. I cannot agree that the issue has had a major effect on the level of general recruitment. The instability and insecurity engendered under the previous Administration—including, whatever their intent, their cack-handed approach to redundancies—and the general lowering of morale all contributed to the desperate situation.
When we inherited this portfolio, all three services were short—the Army was 5,500 soldiers short, and that figure was set to increase to 7,5000. I am glad to be able to tell the House that, for the first time in seven years, the quarterly figures show that the new Government have 5 stemmed that decline and reduced the shortfall. Even though the increase has been modest, the Government's efforts are beginning to bear fruit.

§ Ms Squire
Following my hon. Friend the Minister's most welcome announcement, will he agree that those quarterly figures demonstrate that the Government have already had some success in tackling the dreadful shortfall in recruitment in the armed services that they inherited from the previous Government? Will he join me in welcoming the success in Dunfermline in Scotland of the initiative that was developed by Lauder college and Dunfermline's Army recruitment centre, which was so successful in recruiting young unemployed people to the Army that, for the first time, that Army recruitment centre exceeded its recruitment target when it signed up its 100th recruit last week?

§ Dr. Reid
I extend my congratulations to that recruitment office, which I know has exceeded its target for the first time, and to Lauder technical college on its gateway courses, which we hope will help to inform our approach nationally. Those gateway courses are one of a large range of initiatives that have been introduced since 1 May last year. We take this opportunity to tell anyone outside the Chamber who may read our debates that the armed forces are back in business. There are 25,000 opportunities a year for new recruits to have a rewarding and challenging career with skills and training that are second to none.

§ Mr. Hancock
I am sure that the whole House will be grateful for what the Minister said about the improvement in the figures. I am also sure that he would agree that the sacking of Major Joyce is hardly something that will excite young graduates or others to want to join the armed forces. What steps will the Government take to improve the situation for well-trained young service men who, sadly, have to rely on state benefits to supplement their incomes? Again, I should have thought that that was a serious impediment to recruitment. Finally, can he tell me whether the recruitment drive around the nightclubs of the north of England, which was announced some months ago in the Chamber, has met with any success?

§ Dr. Reid
On the first point, that is a personal and personnel matter between Major Joyce and his employer, the Army. It would be quite wrong for me to comment on what is a personal matter, or for Ministers to become involved in it. I merely say that, if the Army Board calls on any soldier to resign or retire prematurely, he can, should he so wish, seek redress against that decision through the chain of command, the Army Board and ultimately the monarch, and then seek judicial review in the divisional court of the High Court.
On the hon. Gentleman's more general questions, I am glad to say that the whole range of instruments to assist in recruitment that have been deployed since the Government came to office have, as I said, begun to bear fruit, although there is a long way to go. On the other question, I have called for an examination of those very few cases in which people have fallen through the net and are in receipt of supplementary benefits. He will be aware that, this year, the Armed Forces Pay Review Body, which is an independent body, ensured that the lower ranks in the armed forces received a higher increase than anyone else in Britain.