Police Service of Northern Ireland (Hansard, 10 June 2004)

§ Baroness Amos

The Government accepted, subject to the security situation, the recommendation in the Patten report that "the future police service should not include a full-time reserve". In October 2002 the Chief Constable put forward a human resource strategy to meet the staffing needs of the Police Service over the next eight to 10 years, which the Policing Board endorsed. This included a phased rundown of the full-time reserve over an 18-month period from April 2005, subject to no further deterioration of the security situation and the continued success of the recruitment campaign for the service.

The Chief Constable has publicly stated that he will complete a review of these matters after this summer. The Secretary of State will await the outcome of the Chief Constable's advice to the Policing Board and Ministers before further decisions are taken on the full-time reserve.

The Government recognise the major contribution that members of the reserve have made to the maintenance of law and order in Northern Ireland and the high price that they and many of their families have had to pay in doing so.

Detailed discussion on arrangements on severance are continuing. The Government are committed to ensuring that the FTR are treated no less favourably than the terms currently on offer under the voluntary severance scheme.