§ Lord BachMy honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
A new call-out order has been made under Section 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 so that Reservists may continue to be called out into permanent service to support military operations in the former Yugoslavia. The order will take effect from 1 April 2004.
At present, some 300 Reservists are serving in the former Yugoslavia. They are providing a wide range of individual skills as well as a composite signals squadron. We do not expect to have to mobilise any Reservists compulsorily for this particular deployment and we are most grateful for their continuing support to an important stabilisation operation.