Written question asked by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 May 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 May 2005. It was answered by Lord Touhig (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 June 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Territorial Army

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Territorial Army soldiers mobilised under section (a) 54 and (b) 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 since 1st March 2003 have not been deployed to an overseas operational theatre.

Answer: I can confirm that since 1 March 2003: there have been no Territorial Army (TA) soldiers mobilised under Section 52 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996; some 500 TA soldiers have been mobilized under Section 56; and some 9,820 TA soldiers have been mobilised under Section 54. Of the soldiers mobilized under Section 54, some 290 personnel have not deployed to operational theatres and these include: enablers at the Reserves Training and Mobilisation Centre; unit and welfare support staff, who provide a vital liaison role in the home bases of TA units, whose members have been mobilized and deployed; movement control specialists at the Air and Sea Ports of embarkation; Intelligence Analysts; staff officers working in direct support of operations but based in the United Kingdom, and Royal Engineers providing Explosive Ordnance Disposal support in the UK. In addition, it is possible for individuals to be mobilised to fill posts left vacant by members of the regular army serving on operations. However, in general it is our policy to use Reservists contracted on Full Time Reserve Service terms to fill such posts.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 1246; 434 c465-6W;434 c467W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Territorial Army
Tuesday, 7 June 2005
Written questions
House of Commons; Territorial Army
Tuesday, 7 June 2005
Written questions
House of Commons; Reserve Forces Act 1996
Wednesday, 22 May 1996
Public acts
Registered interest declared: Yes
Subjects: Deployment Territorial Army
Legislation: Reserve Forces Act 1996
Contains statistics: Yes