§ Lord Redesdaleasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Army Board ordered the Adjutant General, Lieutenant-General Sir Alistair Irwin, to reduce the number of Army personnel; and, if so, to what level. [HL3670]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)The Adjutant General will manage the manpower implications of the Army force structure changes announced by the Secretary of State for Defence on 21 July. The future Army structure will require a shift in personnel from the current mix of light and heavy forces to a more balanced structure of light, medium and heavy forces. There will be a reduction of four infantry battalions as part of this process. The manpower released will be used to strengthen existing infantry units, and expand specialist areas such as engineers, logisticians, signallers and intelligence. The overall future size of the Army will be around 102,000.