Speeches by Carns.

“Do you mind if I elaborate on that? There is a lot of good will out there in the industry with reservists. We have to make sure that having Reserves in your workforce does not become a liability or impact your productivity. That balance of good will needs to be maintained; it cannot flip either way, or it becomes very …”

“There is a very clear concern that if we were to mobilise our Reserve, it would take the heart out of the defence industry, because we have so many ex-defence personnel working in it. We need to map and track our reservist base and ensure that industry acknowledges who it has, and indeed some of the liability it has sh…”

“On top of that, remember that we are in a simplification process to make the reservists easier to navigate. We have a multitude of terms and conditions of service. What does that mean? It means things like pensions, how many hours you need to do and what you need to do to continue to serve, all the way down to what typ…”

“This reflects some of the issues we have with our veterans. When you leave, you get a veteran card and a digital ID card. Our ability to track veterans who have a Strategic Reserve liability after the Bill and our ability to keep reservists engaged in the system are continual challenges. We used to be exceptionally goo…”

“Ready to sign up, Paul?”

“The end of the Parliament. I will not comment on the exact timings or details of a Bill that is outwith this Bill. What I will comment on is the active Reserve. Although some think that the measures will not have a huge impact on the active Reserve, I believe otherwise. I know from having visited many bases, from Brize…”

“I am here to talk about the Armed Forces Bill.”

“The reality is that it is delivered inconsistently across the United Kingdom, and where you live will affect the level of services you get. The Covenant covers several policy areas, and the Bill will now expand that to 12 plus two, which will be pretty significant. It will put due regard on to local councils and those …”

“I cannot comment on the defence readiness Bill. I am hoping that it will be before the end of this Parliament.”

“I will pass over to Marc.”

“I would just like to say that we are on a journey. We are moving as fast as we can. It is about simplification and modelling the Reserve system and our armed forces system on today’s society to make sure we have the methods in place. The service justice system is moving forward well, and it is welcomed both by previous…”

“We have the communication plan set and ready to go.”

“Correct.”

“The contract does not need amendment because it is an administrative process. As the Bill moves forward with its clauses, it will remove the legal requirement to leave the Regular force to join the Reserve force. Therefore, it will become an administrative move in whichever service you are in, and also to come back in.…”

“Ninety-five thousand.”

“As we simplify our Reserve force, we would like to see a position in the future where an individual can leave full-time service, join the Reserves, do anything from two days a week to two days a month and then rejoin with the minimum amount of bureaucracy or administration. That does not exist at the moment because, un…”

“I will hand over to Marc who has the detail. That is a really important part of the Bill. One of the analogies that I have been using to describe it is that, at the moment, under the current Votes A system, we are not only fielding the football team, but we are telling you exactly how to divide that football team up in…”

“I will hand over to Marc in a second. We are progressing at the moment with simplifying the current Reserve system and investigating what the shape and size of it would look like when we talk about homeland defence. We are in the very early stages of formulating the requirements around that force, what size it would ne…”

“Luke, that is exactly the case. It is utterly ridiculous in this day and age, given how drones have developed, that we can have drones flying over the most sensitive sites and we are able to do nothing outside of the police powers. Clause 4 will broaden those powers to ensure that defence, police and personnel can use …”

“That is a very good question. I think we will see very few people who are still serving opting out of the increase in Strategic Reserve liability. What does that mean? When you leave the service, you will now have a standardised return of 18 years, from the lowest rank of private to sergeant to warrant officer, all the…”