Macedonia (Hansard, 18 October 2001)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)
My Lords, Her Majesty's Government will continue to have a bilateral defence relationship with the Macedonian Government, offering assistance such as training programmes and multi-national defence seminars and courses. As part of that, we continue to provide a defence adviser to the Macedonian Government. We currently have around 40 British troops deployed in Macedonia and we have no plans significantly to change the numbers of British forces there.

§ Lord Burnham
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. However, to what extent is the state of British forces in Macedonia affected by the possibility of a much larger deployment of forces in Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, the House will be aware of Task Force Harvest, which was, if I may say so, a huge success. At its height—on 23rd August—we deployed almost 2,000 troops in Macedonia. That operation concluded on 25th September, and British forces were withdrawn by 12th October. Therefore, the size of our forces in Macedonia will have absolutely no effect on the number of troops that we may or may not need in other parts of the world.

§ Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, given the necessity to police the minority areas in Macedonia and the experience that we have gained from substituting police for military forces in parts of Kosovo and Bosnia, does the Minister foresee the need for British police to be seconded to some of the Albanian parts of Macedonia?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, at present, no. That is, of course, one of the many questions about the future of the process going on in Macedonia on which we must keep a close watch. In due course what the noble Lord suggests may be appropriate. However, for the moment, we look forward to the Macedonian Parliament making the appropriate decisions on constitutional changes. Of course, that Parliament should make those decisions, but we believe that the debate should not be drawn out for too long.

§ Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde
My Lords, I declare my role as chairman of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. On the issue of over-stretch in respect of operational commitments, does the Minister accept that we are talking about not only service personnel but their families and the quality of life of their families? Does my noble friend agree that service people on those operational commitments want to know and to be assured that their families back home are being well looked after? That is the responsibility of the Government of this nation. Accommodation must be at the centre of those concerns, not only in relation to married families but also in relation to single personnel.

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, I agree entirely with my noble friend. As she knows, we have announced significant programmes to improve the standard of living accommodation. There is still a long way to go, and I look forward to having discussions on this matter with my noble friend in one of her many capacities.
Of course, this Question concerns Macedonia, but we cannot help but think about other parts of the world at the same time. Therefore, it is absolutely appropriate that we should deal with a question about service families, who sit at home and wait for their loved ones. We have done our best to improve the position. My noble friend will know that the operational welfare package enables servicemen and women to stay in contact much more easily than was once the case with families through telephone, e-mail and other mail. Ministers also now hold regular talks with service family groups to discuss their concerns and to overcome the unique difficulties that service families can face when their loved ones are abroad.

§ Lord Vivian
My Lords, now that the United Kingdom contingent of approximately 2,000 troops has returned from Macedonia and the Germans have taken over from us with Task Force Foxtrot, can the Minister say how many troops will remain operationally deployed in percentage terms?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord to the Front Bench at Question Time and thank him for the courtesy that he showed in giving me advance warning of his question. I must explain that the current deployment of troops for Exercise Saif Sareea in Oman does not contribute to the percentage of troops deployed in operations. The noble Lord did not suggest that they did; I merely point out that they do not. Therefore, now that, by and large, troops have left Macedonia, I can tell the noble Lord that the number of personnel committed to operations currently stands at around 20 per cent.

§ Lord Hylton
My Lords, the Minister has already referred to constitutional reforms in Macedonia. Does he agree that the implementation of the internal agreement already reached is crucial? Will he urge on the parties the importance of that implementation as that will surely affect any future external force levels within the country?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord. The constitutional changes are absolutely critical. The British Government are doing their best to ensure that pressure is applied so that those constitutional changes take place. However, as I said previously, the Macedonian Parliament must make the decision. We hope that it will decide quickly and in the right way. The Task Force Harvest call to which the British Government responded, as did other governments in NATO, was of course important in two ways. Not only was a large amount of ammunition passed over but it enabled a political process to begin and gave it teeth, which it did not have before.