§ 68. Sir T. Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Defence what Civil Defence rôle the Territorial Army will in future be expected to perform, in the light of his proposal to end its rôle in support of the civil authorities in the post-nuclear phase of a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom; and approximately how many of the planned 40,000 strong Territorial Army will be trained for such a rôle.
§ Mr. ReynoldsI have nothing to add to the statement of my right hon. Friend of 29th July which set out the future rôle of the reserve Army.
§ Sir T. Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Defence to what extent, in deciding on the figure of 50,000 for an Army volunteer reserve, he assessed the numbers required to reinforce regular units to support the regular Army in limited war, and to provide reinforcements for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as our commitments require; and what numbers he estimates will be required for each of these three distinct rôles.
§ Mr. ReynoldsIndividual units of the Reserve will not be confined to particular rôles. The figure of 50,000 represents the total number of volunteer reservists required to meet all the rôles indicated in my right hon. Friend's statement. The number of men required to accept an "Ever-Ready" liability is 8,500, but this will include a proportion of Regular Reservists who volunteer for the additional liability.