Govt About-Turn On Territorial Army Training
Friday 1 July 2011 1:51 PM
The Government has scaled back cuts to the training budget for the Territorial Army after attacks from the Conservatives.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Armed Forces minister Bill Rammell said £17.5m would be cut from the training budget, instead of the £20m originally announced.
It comes two weeks after David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of making "totally unacceptable cuts".
"Volunteers are being asked to possibly lay down their lives in the service of their country are not being given the basic training they need," he said.
Mr Rammell said the Army proposed reducing the amount spent on TA training in order to accommodate additional soldiers who were recruited this year.
"We will not allow any risk to the Afghanistan campaign in the future to materialise.
"No TA soldier will be deployed on operations unless the Army is satisfied that he is properly trained and prepared, and pre-deployment training, emphatically, is not being cut back."
Ministers had planned to suspend non pre-deployment training for the rest of the financial year, which would have saved £20m.
But, Mr Rammell said, the Government was "listening" and would therefore adjust its plans.
Ensuring that TA soldiers get one night's training a month for the rest of the financial year will cost £2.5m.
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