My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I declare an interest, unpaid, as honorary colonel of a TA regiment.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they propose to take in view of the number of resignations from the Reserve Forces since 30 June 2005.

My Lords, Reserve Force manning has received the highest level of attention in the MoD and active measures are under way to improve recruitment and retention. Measures being implemented include enhanced support packages, improved financial support for reservists and employers, improved training and greater access to training courses, intelligent selection for mobilisation, improved welfare support and a new pensions and compensation scheme.

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. All the indications are that the downward drift in the number of reservists—particularly the TA—fully trained and available for deployment has increased alarmingly. Does the Minister agree that the situation is now untenable, particularly as the Regular Army is so overstretched? What are the Government going to do to prevent a catastrophe?

My Lords, I do not accept that as a fair description of the position. We recognise that we have a challenge relating to retentions in Reserve Forces, but this is not a new issue. It goes back many years. We had turnover rates of about 20 or 25 per cent back in the 1970s, and we must recognise that it is in the nature of Reserve Forces. However, we have seen a drop in retention levels in recent years. We believe that the strong efforts that we have made to address the issue are starting to bear fruit. We have seen an improvement in the past couple of months, but one swallow does not make a summer. We need to see whether it is a continuing trend. We are not complacent. We are working hard in a number of areas, as I have described.

My Lords, does the Minister agree, or at least concede, that this serious situation has come about because of over-reliance on our Reserve Forces in operational areas to compensate for the wholly inappropriate cuts in the numbers and units of our regular forces? The volunteers and reserves have responded splendidly to the challenges of Afghanistan and Iraq, but surely the Minister must realise that they are being asked to do too much and to do it too often.

My Lords, while I recognise the great experience in this area of my noble and gallant friend, we have to realise that we are going through a period of reform in our Armed Forces. We set out in the Strategic Defence Review—that document is in the Library of the House—the way in which we would more closely integrate the Reserve Forces with our regular forces and this is paying dividends. The attitude surveys of members of our Reserve Forces show that there is a high level of contentment—80 per cent plus—in terms of their experience. We should also pay tribute to the very great contribution that the Reserve Forces make. More than 20 per cent of the troops on Operation TELIC 2 were Reserve Forces. Two MCs, one George Cross and a whole range of gallantry medals have been earned. We should not underestimate the great contribution that our Reserve Forces make.

My Lords, the Minister may reassure us that things are not as bad as everybody says, but the fact is that on 1 November 2005 the strength of the TA was 36,940 against an establishment of 41,610. There is a rebalancing exercise going on. When is the Minister going to make an announcement about it? Most importantly, can he give us an assurance that this is not just going to be another cuts exercise in order to cover political embarrassment over poor retention and recruiting?

My Lords, it is important for us to recognise that we do not have a significant deterioration. The level of retention went through a decline approximately two to three years ago, to a new level. It has been pretty stable since then. There has been a marginal decline, which we have seen improving recently. This is not about restructuring, it is about us stretching every sinew to ensure that we are doing everything to be intelligent in the way that we are recruiting into the Reserve Forces. Noble Lords may have noticed a recent advertising campaign. We are now recruiting both for the Reserve Forces and the regulars at the same time, using the same advertising techniques and recruitment offices. This is really starting to work. It is not a rebalancing exercise.

My Lords, does the Minister not agree that the reasons for the outflow are rather more complex that just the numbers of operations in which reservists have to play a part? I declare an interest as chairman of the National Employer Advisory Board for the reserves. That fact is that society is changing, the world of work is changing, and relationships with families and employers are changing. A whole series of quite complex things need to be examined. Indeed, my board is examining them at the moment.

There is no shortage of enthusiasm for deployment among many units. I declare an interest as honorary colonel of a TA field hospital, and honorary air commodore of a Royal Auxiliary Air Force medical unit. There is a great deal of enthusiasm for taking part in these operations.

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Glenarthur, in his role as the chairman of the National Employer Advisory Board to the Ministry of Defence, and the fantastic work that it does in advising us. He is absolutely right. In 2006, we are in a different situation from the one we were in just 10 years ago. We in the modern Armed Forces need to respond to this. We need to recognise that a lot of the retention issues arise in the period after two or three years of service, when people have completed their training, before they go on operations. That is just at the time of life when people are thinking about getting married, settling down and so forth. We need to address these issues.

The noble Lord is absolutely right that there is no shortage of enthusiasm on the part of the Reserve Forces for going on operations; I know, from my own experience, that it is quite the opposite.

My Lords, why does the MoD not routinely send observers, or even support, to reservists at a reinstatement committee at an employment tribunal?

My Lords, I do not have the answer to the noble Earl's question. I will have to write to him.

My Lords, the Minister seems to have misunderstood the original question. As I saw it, the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall, was asking whether the use made of auxiliary forces was excessive. He was not questioning the value of their contribution, and nor is anyone else.

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for making that clarification. I am happy to assure the House that it is not a question of us making excessive use of auxiliary forces. We regard a level of approximately 600 people every six months as absolutely sustainable. We have no difficulty in maintaining that level. We have done so now on several roulements into Operation TELIC. We believe that we can sustain it really quite comfortably.