Armed Forces

My Lords, I join other noble Lords in thanking the noble Lord, Lord King, for this opportunity to debate the contribution made by our Armed Forces. Amid all their incredible achievements, however, I find it very sad that, all too often, the media tend to focus on the problem areas, be it Chinook supply, ship supply or the casualties of which we hear too many in this House. All of it must have a desperate effect on morale and recruiting. I wish to focus on the training and equipment, without which our Armed Forces would be unable to contribute either to our defence or our peacekeeping tasks. I agree with many other noble Lords, as was said already today, that the time has come for another review. I hope it will include the provision of sufficient and suitable aircraft, particularly helicopters, and, more importantly, with spares to keep them flying, so that, in training and in war, we can have full equipment. Defence funding peaked in the 1950s, 1960s and in the mid-1980s, all Cold War periods. It has declined since. Our warfare methods have changed from European planes with large formations of tanks. Although the Cold War may have ended, we are now fighting a less conventional war in more difficult terrain. We should have sufficient spending for proper equipment for training and for war. The time has come for another peak in spending. Training for war needs realistic scenarios and, therefore, natural terrain. At this point, I should declare an interest; I am involved with the Ministry of Defence in the provision of land for training. Pressures have increased on traditional areas such as Salisbury Plain and Wales, particularly with troops returning from Germany. In the United Kingdom, Scotland has now become the largest formation training area, providing an ideal mix of ground and realistic training scenarios. In many places, this is a combination of Forestry Commission land, private land and Ministry of Defence land. It has recently been estimated that approximately 70 per cent of this training is carried out on private land and Forestry Commission land. Until devolution, a licence existed between the Forestry Commission and the Ministry of Defence on a 30-year rotational lease. In the next three to five years, this licence is due to expire, and although the security of tenure will exist in England and Wales, the Forestry Commission in Scotland is now under the management of the Scottish Government. Can the Minister say whether the Government have contemplated the effects of the Scottish Government withdrawing this licence, particularly on the areas around the Dundrennan and Dalbeattie training centres, which rely so extensively on the Galloway forest? Without private and Forestry Commission land, UK large formation training costs will increase dramatically because such training would be forced overseas. All this takes tight, efficient and careful management. Currently, the majority of Scotland’s training ground is run by regional forces through the 2nd Division, which is based in Edinburgh. A review is under way whereby this responsibility may be taken over by defence training estates. The 2nd Division controls and liaises on personal contact with the civilian population and helps considerably in conflict resolution. Defence training estates would be likely to regionalise this procedure based on Ministry of Defence centres reporting to a headquarters in Wiltshire. I should like to raise a slight caution here; namely, that this may lead to a loss of community confidence and withdrawal of this asset. Our forces undertake a remarkable job on our behalf. The Government should not forget that training is as important as fighting and that they should supply full equipment for both—in particular, the now essential helicopters. The Cold War was funded properly. The theatre may now have changed, but the need for funding has not.