§ Sir Antony Buckasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will make a statement concerning his plans for expanding the Home Service Force.
§ Mr. StanleyI am pleased to announce that our plans for expanding the Home Service Force to a strength of almost 5,000 have now been finalised. In devising our plans we have been guided by operational requirements and the availability of suitable Territorial Army host units. As a result of this expansion there will be a total of 47 Home Service Force companies, including the existing four pilot scheme companies. The expansion will take place in two stages. The first, which will begin in January, will raise the strength of the Home Service Force to over 4,200 and will involve host units not affected by the Territorial Army expansion programme announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 26 March 1984. The second stage will follow the expansion of the Territorial Army and will add a further 500 to the strength of the Home Service Force.
The companies of the expanded Home Service Force will be located as follows:
- —7 in Scotland (Elgin, Aberdeen, Perth, Dunfermline, Ayr, Dumfries, Edinburgh);
- —4 in the South East (Canterbury, Horsham, Reading, Oxford);
- —7 in the North East (Huddersfield, Scarborough, Newcastle, Bishop Auckland, Hull, Catterick, Leconfield);
- —7 in the East (Bedford, Norwich, Peterborough, Chelmsford, Worksop, Derby, Leicester);
- —5 in London (2 in Finsbury and 3 more, possibly to be located at Chelsea, Hammersmith and Kensington);
711 - — 5 in the South West (Truro, Plymouth, South Cerney, Bath, Salisbury);
- — 3 in Wales (Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham);
- — 4 in the West (Walsall, Worcester, Kidderminster, Donnington);
- — 5 in the North West (Lancaster, Chorley, Liverpool, Warrington, Runcorn).
The companies to be raised at Oxford, Kensington, Plymouth and Runcorn will represent the second phase of the expansion.
The companies to be raised at Donnington, Salisbury, South Cerney, Catterick and Leconfield will be hosted by units of the Regular Army; if this proves successful, it will enable us better to consider the scope for further expansion of the Home Service Force in the longer term.
I have placed a full list of the new companies, their host units and locations in the Library.