§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Geoffrey Hoon) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
As part of the routine management of UK forces in the Multinational Division (South-East) (MND(SE)) in Iraq, we intend to conduct a further roulement over the coming months. The lead UK formation, currently 1 Mechanised Brigade, will be provided by 4 Armoured Brigade from October 2004. In addition to 4 Armoured Brigade's headquarters and signals squadron, we plan to replace the major units currently in Iraq as follows:
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Unit deploying Unit currently in theatre 4 Armoured Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron 1 Mechanised Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards The Household Cavalry Regiment The Royal Dragoon Guards 4th Regiment The Royal Artillery The Queens Royal Lancers 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery 1st Battalion The Scots Guards 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment 1st Battalion The Welsh Guards 1st Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment 1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment 21 Engineer Regiment 22 Engineer Regiment This process of roulement is currently planned to take place over the period from mid-October to mid-November. We expect that 4 Armoured Brigade Headquarters will assume authority in early November. We expect that the number of Armed Forces personnel in theatre will remain broadly stable as a result of these changes.
In my Statement on 27 May (Official Report, col. 1725) I announced that we were reducing the notice to move of 40 Commando The Royal Marines, in case it proved necessary to deploy it to help to continue the work currently carried out by the two surge battalions, the 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the 1st Battalion The Royal Highland Fusiliers. These battalions have carried out much impressive work particularly in developing Iraqi security forces. However, the general officer commanding has concluded that there will be a continuing requirement for some surge capability in MND(SE), both to provide support to Iraqi security forces in the early stages of the transitional period, and to provide capacity for some other tasks, including the protection of essential infrastructure over the summer period.
As I announced in that Statement, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders will complete their six-month tour in July. Three companies of the Royal Highland Fusiliers were originally deployed for a three-month tour to mid-July (the other company forms the Falkland Island Roulement Infantry Company). We have concluded that we should not extend their tour in Iraq any further. On the advice of the general officer commanding, therefore, I have decided that 40 Commando should deploy to replace the Royal Highland Fusiliers. Because all four companies of 40 Commando will deploy to Iraq there will be a net increase of approximately 270 personnel in theatre, which will bring the total to around 9,200. We envisage that deployment will begin on 21 June in order to complete the handover in mid-July.
As part of the roulement from 1 Mechanised Brigade to 4 Armoured Brigade, and in line with our policy of employing the reserves as an integral component of the Armed Forces, we shall shortly begin mobilising a further tranche of approximately 750 Reservists to support operations in Iraq, with a view to deployment from mid-October onwards. This is a smaller deployment than previously required for Op TELIC. We currently have some 1,400 Army Reservists carrying out a range of activities including medical support, force protection duties and providing individual reinforcements to units. We anticipate that most of these tasks will continue but the reduction in the number of individual reinforcements required and the replacement of the reserve field hospital with one staffed by regular soldiers will reduce the total Reserve requirement. These changes mean that the number of Army Reservists in theatre will drop to about 1,050 at the start of the roulement (about 13 per cent of the land component) and then further reduce to about 750 over the following months.
56WSWe aim to issue the call-out notices in two tranches on 23 July and 27 August and begin deployment in mid-October. Reservist personnel will receive at least 21 days' notice. Mobilisation will be followed by a period of individual, pre-deployment and collective training, integration into receiving units, and then a short period of pre-deployment leave. The majority of those called out can expect a deployed tour of six months and a total period of mobilisation, including post-tour leave, of about nine months, though for a few it may be longer.
Between now and 23 July we aim to identify for selection as accurately as possible those Reservists who are believed to be fit and available for deployment. As is customary, to ensure that we successfully mobilise the required number, we will need to issue a greater number of call-out notices than the actual requirement.
I would emphasise that these are routine adjustments to UK forces in MND(SE). We continue to consider, with our partners in the multinational force, the levels and dispositions of forces required in Iraq in the months ahead, to support the sovereign Interim Government of Iraq through the process leading to the election of a Transitional Assembly and Government early in 2005. If we judge that further changes to the UK military contribution in Iraq would be appropriate to support this process, we will of course inform the House at the earliest opportunity. At present, however, no such decision has been made.