§ Lord Trefgarneasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to use members of the reserve forces in support of current operations.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Viscount Cranborne)My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence reported in another place last October the call out of a small number of willing officers of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve to support current operations, and in November the Minister of State for the Armed Forces reported the call out of a number of Territorial Army and Royal Naval personnel.
A need for further limited support from the reserve forces has now arisen. The requirement is for a small number of officers to serve in Italy in intelligence and public relations capacities in support of the operations to enforce the no-fly zone over Bosnia. Three officers will be deployed at any one time and additional support may be needed in the UK. They will all be volunteers. They are being called out under Section 11(1) of the Reserve Forces Act 1980.