Written question asked by Helen Jones (Labour) on Monday, 15 April 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 April 2002. It was answered by Lord Moonie (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 April 2002 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether reservists will continue to be called out for operations in the Balkans and the region of Iraq. - Including ref to section 54 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996.

Answer: Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether reservists will continue to be called out for operations in the Balkans and the region of Iraq. [50671] Dr. Moonie: Two call-out orders have been made to enable reservists to continue to be called out into service to support operations in those regions. The first, made under section 54 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996, authorised the call out of members of the reserve forces to support operations in the region of Iraq. Its purpose is to continue the practice started in 1992 of calling out reservists, primarily specialists, to support the no-fly zone operations over north and south Iraq. At present 10 reservists are serving in the region. The second order was made under section 56 of the Act to allow reservists to be called into service to support operations in former Yugoslavia. Since 1995, when NATO operations commenced in former Yugoslavia, the reserve forces have provided some 10 per cent. of the total UK manpower in theatre. NATO's on-going study to find efficiencies for troop contributing nations will not be agreed or implemented in time to mitigate the present need. Both orders are effective until 31 March 2003.

Secondary information