11.21 am
Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton) on securing this debate. Having served with the infantry in the Guards and, during the latter part of my military career, in the Royal Army Medical Corps, I wish to discuss the two key areas highlighted by my hon. Friend as being severely overstretched.
The integration of the Territorial Army with the regular forces has changed beyond belief in the past 20 years. In the 1970s when I served with the infantry in the Guards, the TA was, to be frank, a laughing stock among the regular forces. The two never worked together or integrated; and they rarely trained together, apart from an annual two-week exercise in Germany—and we usually ran out of fuel, bullets and everything else, because we were so badly funded.
I congratulate the Government, because in the past 10 years, the integration and training of the TA have worked fantastically. Thank goodness they have. The armed forces are now so small that without the TA—which comprises civilians who, as my hon. Friend said, work with the armed forces—how would the infantry and the Royal Army Medical Corps cope when serving this country so brilliantly throughout the world?
I have two concerns about the way in which the Government propose to deal with the cuts in the TA, and they are cuts; there is no argument about what is happening. We can put as much spin on it as we like, but they are cuts, especially to the infantry and to the medical corps.
First, I fear that we shall use and abuse the TA even more. I have raised that issue many times with the Secretary of State and the Minister on the Floor of the House. There is no shortage of volunteers, but each time they are the same volunteers—guys and girls—who are keen to serve their country and gain experience. They are not the people who are leaving in their droves. In my constituency, TA recruitment is suffering. One reason is that TA centres locally have been closed and there is a huge distance to travel between centres.
Another reason is the pressure on married serving TA members as well as regulars. People want to be with their families, and such people tend to have the experience in that they have served in the armed forces and now serve with the TA. They want to serve and to be deployed but they do not want to go back time and again. The people who tend to volunteer time and again are single and without the experience and training that are desperately needed.
By deploying so often, there is a massive problem with training. One reason why there are so many problems with the bounty is that people can be deployed with the TA to Iraq, but when they return, they are not guaranteed the bounty, because they have not done the training. At first, I thought that that was wrong, but the jobs that TA members undertake on deployment do not form part of the training needed for deployment elsewhere. TA members undertake not only long deployments, but further training on their return. That puts even more pressure on their relationships, job prospects and careers. That is why so many people are leaving.
I am not surprised that the Government have not answered the questions tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton, because I think that they are embarrassed about the problems with recruitment and retention levels in the armed forces as a whole.
For my sins, I am taking part in the armed forces parliamentary scheme this year by serving with the Army. I know that I am getting a bit long in the tooth to be wearing uniform, but having been around some units, I have been shocked at the age of some of our NCOs and their lack of experience. Everybody needs to be made up and given responsibility. I was lucky: I joined the Army as a junior guardsman and just about made guardsman, so I have no experience of promotion in the armed forces. However, the people who commanded tended quite rightly to have the experience and, within the regiment or battalion, the necessary kudos to lead. I have been to Iraq twice and seen the training regiments and some of the people who are training our armed forces. They are very young and they have limited experience, partly because we are losing so many experienced people.
My second concern is about pay and morale. My hon. Friend highlighted an interesting point when she said that there are two types of unit: those made up of regular soldiers, whose pay is better than it was when I served, although we would all accept that it is still not great; and, often embedded with the regulars, those made up of the TA personnel who match their civilian salary.
There is a third category, however, about which I was surprised to learn. I have raised this matter before with the Secretary of State and the Minister. Agency staff are brought in to supplement units in Iraq, especially the Royal Army Medical Corps field ambulance units. The regulars are on their set pay, the TA units are on theirs, and then agency staff are brought in to fill the gaps in the TA medical units. When I was in al-Amara in Iraq just before the election, I witnessed that situation and its damaging effect on morale within the armed forces.
I compliment the bravery of agency people who have gone in to such environments as untrained civilians. However, the effect on the morale of the armed forces is phenomenal. Without high morale, we do not have armed forces. We cannot deploy them throughout the world and ask them to do what we ask, week in, week out, if morale is low. Morale is low in certain parts of the Army, and particularly in the infantry, partly because of the reorganisation and abolition of regiments, and partly because of the sheer size of the deployment. That issue must be addressed.
I cannot see that the shortfall in the Royal Army Medical Corps will be addressed by cutting back the TA medical services. It seems illogical. If the Government have admitted defeat in their attempts to recruit people to the medical services, perhaps we need to consider how other countries have recruited successfully. The Americans have an excellent system. Their medical services are some of the best in the world, because they encourage people to undertake commitments as part of their civilian and military career structure. If one moves on in the US civil guard medical services, one moves on in one's civilian career. It is a twin-track approach, and perhaps it is something that we need to consider.
We have a fantastic Territorial Army. Without it, we should never have been able to do any of the things that we have done in the past 20 years throughout the world, from the Falklands, through the two Gulf wars, to Afghanistan and so on. We must not use and abuse TA personnel. We must not assume that those people will volunteer every single time. They are young and enthusiastic, but sometimes common sense must prevail. I hope that we can consider that issue, and I look forward to the Minister's answers to the debate.
11.28 am
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