Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Monday, 9 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 April 2001. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Monday, 23 April 2001 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make a statement on the role of the Reserve Forces in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy commitments.

Answer: Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the role of the Reserve Forces in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy commitments. [158316] Mr. Hoon: UK participation in any particular operation, and the nature of our contribution (including any potential use of the Reserve Forces), would be matters for decision by the UK Government in the light of circumstances at the time. Our aim in restructuring the Reserve Forces, particularly for the Territorial Army, was to make it more integrated with regular forces and defence plans, with a shift in emphasis away from traditional home defence roles, to others such as signallers, artillery, air defence, logisticians and particularly medical services. The number deployed with regulars would depend on the nature and scale of the operation.

Secondary information