§ 2.41 p.m.
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was spent on staff and activities directed to recruiting for the Army in the last year for which figures are available; and whether the Government gave any assistance in the preparation of the television programme"Gone for a Solidier"broadcast on 9th March.
Viscount LONGMy Lords, the estimated cost of the Army Recruiting Organisation was £12.32 million for the financial year 1978–79. Facilities were made available to the makers of the TV programme,"Gone for a Soldier ", to film Army recruiting and training activities.
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for his reply. I recognise that neither he nor the Government were responsible for the content of the programme, but is he aware that the programme's effect was damaging to the reputation of the Army and to its difficult role in Northern Ireland? Is it not an extraordinary paradox that the general public should have paid, through their licence fees, for a programme which largely nullified the recruiting effort which the general public had also paid for out of taxation?
Viscount LONGMy Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend for not blaming the Government or the authorities for what happened, and perhaps I may give a little more information to my noble friend and the House about what happened. The producer of the programme requested assistance as long ago as December 1977, when the Ministry of Defence was given a synthesis of the 163 programme. It was not until the preview that the department became aware of the editorial slant. The Ministry of Defence requested cuts in sequences which, in their view, were biased and unrepresentative, but the request was denied. Representations have been made at a high level to the BBC, and in another place the Under-Secretary of State for the Army, answering Questions on 11th March, gave the Government's general reaction to it.
The Minister of Defence has no wish to reserve editorial rights over programmes of this type, other than on grounds of national security, and would not wish to place more restrictions than are absolutely essential on the media's access to the armed forces. In the light of the programme, it is possible that assistance to the Press may be granted more selectively in the future.
I should also like to mention that even though we have had this biased programme levelled against our soldiers, the current recruiting performance has been very encouraging. I should like to explain to the House how pleasing it has become to the Ministry of Defence. There has been a marked upturn in recruiting since we restored service pay to its appropriate level. From April 1979 to February of this year, Army recruiting was 20 per cent. higher than in the same period last year. It is vital that this improvement be sustained. The targets next year are higher and have to make up for the high outflow and the shortfalls in recruiting over the past two or three years. Whatever happened during this programme, recruiting will continue.
§ Lord SHINWELLMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that history, however damaging and deplorable, is acceptable as long as we escape from it? Do not the recruiting figures indicate that the programme, far from being deplorable, was historical and factual and is unlikely to do any damage; and that the conditions now prevailing in Her Majesty's Forces are on the whole satisfactory compared with what they have been in the past?
Viscount LONGMy Lords, I am most grateful for what the noble Lord has said. Indeed, morale in the armed forces is very much higher and, as I 164 have already said, recruitment is—as the noble Lord, and, I am sure, all of us, would like—going along steadily.
§ Lord TRANMIREIs my noble friend aware that some of the incidents portrayed relating to action by our forces both in Northern Ireland and in Cyprus were extremely inaccurate and disappointed very many ex-servicemen who saw the programme and who had been in action in Northern Ireland and in Cyprus? May that be conveyed to the chairman of the BBC?
Viscount LONGI am grateful to my noble friend. Strong words have been already written in letters to the BBC. The next time round they will find it probably a little more difficult to be able to get through such a situation. I should like to say at this stage that our troops have done a wonderful job in monitoring the Rhodesian elections. This, of course, was not brought out in the programme, for the programme was too early for it. Our troops certainly do a good job; and it was unfortunate that the producer got hold of the wrong information.
§ Lord TAYLOR of BLACKBURNMy Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that the Government's policy, because it is creating unemployment, encourages people to go into the forces?
Viscount LONGMy Lords, the forces have always been interested in those who would like to enlist. It is not a matter of unemployment or what the noble Lord suggested about Government policy.
The Earl of CATHCARTMy Lords, would my noble friend not suggest to the BBC, funded as it is from public funds, that they might balance the record by showing in a similar manner the wonderful service done by the British Army in Rhodesia and also, over a long period, in Northern Ireland—something no Army in the world could have done with such good humour and discipline?
Viscount LONGI am grateful to my noble friend for that supplementary question. There were some 54 different programmes of different sorts last year which have shown that our forces do a good job in one way or another. These were television programmes or write-ups in magazines or the Press.
§ Lord WIGGMy Lords, when talking about recruiting, will the noble Lord bear in mind two factors: first, that unemployment has a direct effect upon recruiting; secondly, that whenever there is an increase in pay there is also a sharp rise in recruiting; and that very often the curve rises and falls? What the Ministry of Defence need to look at is the average recruiting figures over a period in relation to the number of men that it is possible to recruit; that is to say, the number reaching the age of eligibility.
Will the noble Lord also bear in mind that I have at least one qualification to speak on this subject?—that I am the only Member of this House who has served on a regular engagement, as did my forbears. Would he further bear in mind that the picture presented by the BBC, while it tended to be a caricature, was not all that historically incorrect? The Regular Army was never a bed of roses; but as one who went through the mill for a period of some 30 years, I would do it all over again if I could, for I got more out of it than I put in.
Viscount LONGMy Lords, I wonder whether I would do it all over again. I am glad that the noble Lord wants to recruit himself back into the Army. I am sure that noble Lords will go all the way with him on that.