§ 3. Ms Sally Keeble (Northampton, North)If he will make a statement on the deployment of the armed forces to assist the public during the recent floods. [138573]
§ 7. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett (Denton and Reddish)If he will make a statement on the deployment of the armed forces to assist the public during the recent floods. [138578]
§ The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)Members of the armed forces from more than 60 different military units provided help for flood victims in numerous locations across 15 counties during the period 30 October to 14 November. In addition, personnel from 619 Territorial Army units also participated. I congratulate them on their achievements in saving life and protecting property.
The Ministry of Defence is also helping in the recovery phase. Some 200 MOD houses have been made available to those evacuated owing to flooding, and around 50 of these have already been taken up. The armed forces and the MOD remain ready to serve the community and to respond to emergencies of all kinds, at all times.
§ Ms KeebleI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. I draw particular attention to the work of the Territorial Army which, in my constituency, played a prominent role in saving lives during the floods a couple of years back. Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that the experience of the TA and other forces will be properly pulled together and recorded, so that they can learn the lessons of how to protect people during floods and make sure that their excellent work continues? Will he pay particular tribute to the Territorial Army, which does an outstanding job, especially in such circumstances?
§ Mr. HoonI am grateful to my hon. Friend for her observations, particularly about the Territorial Army, although its members and Regular Army units would have been the first to pay tribute to the role of all the emergency services in responding to the crisis all over the country. There is no danger of the experience or expertise being lost, simply because the organisation of the Army, particularly in respect of emergency assistance, parallels precisely the arrangement of the emergency services. When there is a crisis requiring help from the armed forces, the decision to assist is taken at local level, working with the experience acquired on previous occasions.
§ Mr. BennettI echo the sentiments and expressions of appreciation of all the hard work put in by service personnel. Is my right hon. Friend aware of the view of the Environment Agency that the help was crucial in the protection of places such as York? Can he confirm that if, sadly, the weather goes on being bad for the rest of the winter, enough sandbags and sand to fill them will be available?
§ Mr. HoonI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his observations. I went to York during the crisis and saw for myself the work that the armed forces were doing—together, incidentally, with some tremendous work being conducted by the Environment Agency. That was a great example of all the emergency services and Government, at both national and local level, working extremely effectively together. I can give my hon. Friend the assurance, if not about the specific number of sandbags, at least that the armed forces stand ready to assist should they be required again.
§ Mr. Christopher Fraser (Mid-Dorset and North Poole)Does the Secretary of State accept that the invaluable contribution of the TA in the recent floods underlines the mistake that he made by massively slashing 18,000 TA officers?
§ Mr. HoonOn the contrary: the fact that the TA was operating so successfully across many parts of the country demonstrates the wisdom of the decisions that we took.
§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)Will the Secretary of State join me in paying particular tribute to the Royal Engineers based at Rippon and to the Environment Agency, particularly for the work that it did at Rawcliffe, where, as the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) implied, there were no sandbags available and no pumping? Does the Secretary of State accept that as a result not just of the cuts in the TA but of the overstretch brought about by the additional commitments of the regular forces, the severe weather forecasts for the Christmas and new year period are putting extreme pressure and intolerable demands on our armed forces?
§ Mr. HoonIt was—[interruption]—an example, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) indicates sotto voce, of the rapid reaction capability of the British armed forces. I had the opportunity and privilege of visiting both Selby and Chilwell during the crisis. A member of the armed forces said—it is significant in this context—that he was pleased to assist local communities in the United Kingdom. He added that it was the first time in his military career that he had helped in the United Kingdom.