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President, Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I was delighted to be invited to speak to you this morning because there are several employer support issues I should like to tell you about, and since it is also very much home territory for me, I know that I am amongst friends. I will start by reassuring you that I am not going to speak for too long, probably no more than a quarter of an hour or so. I can also tell you that I have been given a few minutes at the end to take any questions that you may have, and which I fully intend to use!

The fact that this is the last AGM as the Eastern Wessex TAVRA and the imminent amalgamation with the South East Association later in the year, bears witness to the ongoing process of change. At my Regional ELC Chairmen’s Meeting in February last year, we had a presentation on the management of change within NELC and our Volunteer Reserve Forces’ Campaign. We looked particularly at the outcome of the Strategic Defence Review and the changes brought about by the TA Re-structuring.

It was good to see how positively most members of the TA and the Associations reacted to what was seen, by some, to be an attack on the Territorial Army and much that it stood for. The process of implementing the changes is now well underway – and in some cases, complete – and it is good to know that, by and large, recruiting has stood up well despite the adverse publicity and, in some cases, ill-informed speculation and comment. There is still some way to go, however, and we cannot afford to “rest on our arms reversed” quite yet! Indeed, tomorrow’s TA Day is part of the very important ongoing process of educating the public that the TA is alive and well and is still recruiting.

But there have been several other issues over the past year that have occupied our time within NELC, and I should like to turn to them now.

The Compulsory Mobilisation Feasibility Study was probably one of the most important topics that we dealt with. You will recall that, when President Milosevic refused to intervene in Kosovo, a NATO air campaign was launched against Serbia and the Serbian Forces in Kosovo. Simultaneously the Ministry of Defence was involved in planning for an aggressive entry with our ground forces. Thankfully the Army’s entry, in the end, was unopposed. Nevertheless a number of concerns had been identified in the planning process which led to the setting up of a Compulsory Mobilisation Feasibility Study and the creation of a Mobilisation Steering Group.

Both groups were given broad remits and terms of reference and I was involved, as were my Committee, General Edward Jones, the Council and the TAVRAs from the outset. As I reported at the ELC Chairmen’s Meeting last month, the outcome of the Feasibility Study was quite clear and entirely in line with the Strategic Defence Review. That is to say, it was concluded that it was both legal and feasible to mobilise the Reserve Forces compulsorily in support of "operations other than war" and this, of course, includes peace support and humanitarian operations. This information was released in a written answer to a question in Parliament – not usually recognised by Alistair Campbell and his chums as the best way of grabbing the headlines. What John Spellar did say, and as CGS has also made clear, is that, while the operational situation had eased sufficiently so that compulsory mobilisation was not needed at the time the study team reported, the subject would be kept under review and the Government would use it if necessary. He explained that there had been UK force reductions around the turn of the year and that there was not an operational justification, at that time, for the use of compulsory mobilisation.

I mentioned the Mobilisation Steering Group. That was set up under the chairmanship of Brigadier Richard Holmes and I have been consulted as its work has proceeded. They have just sent a report to Geoff Hoon and there are three particular areas that I will mention that are covered in that report. The first is the recommendation that there should be greater openness and that all employers of recruits to the Reserve Forces should be notified of their employees commitment. The second is that the concept of Reserved Occupations is outdated and should be done away with and the last is, effectively, that the MoD should set an example as a "Supportive Employer." Obviously the first may have implications for recruiting and Headquarters LAND is currently conducting a major survey to ascertain what the views are across the country.

The second and third relate to the important principle that Government should be "joined up". I have written to Mo Mowlam on this subject and, together with work being undertaken by Mary Sinfield in Richard Holmes’s Directorate, am hopeful that we will make progress. It simply cannot be right, for example, that we should have some Chief Fire Officers, Prison Wardens or Chief Constables encouraging membership of the Reserve Forces whilst others in similar positions ban their men and women from joining or even continuing any extant membership!

We need to ensure that we educate all employers that there is value in their employees being in the Reserve Forces. It really must be a genuine partnership and I can sympathise with those small and medium-sized businesses in particular who find it difficult to identify real benefits for them. That is why I am working hard to get as much support and funding as possible for Vocational Qualifications. We need to set targets and any ability to assess, accredit and award the qualifications must be to our advantage. I have had useful meetings with General Mike Walker – who is soon to be CGS – with the Adjutant General Alex Harley and with briefing teams from their Headquarters and the MoD. The Personal Development Records now undergoing trials, will, I hope, be a great step forward. It is an area that I feel needs further support however, and I have raised it with both John Spellar and Geoff Hoon.

We have been working closely with the Surgeon General’s Department and the Medical Services to try to address the shortages in key skills in the Medical Services. The Army Medical Services TA Campaign which was launched in September last year has some time yet to run and I would not want to suggest that all the problems had been solved. Nevertheless there have been increased levels of interest and there is cautious optimism that, in the longer term at least, we will succeed. One major success story has certainly been the improvement in the levels of understanding at the Department of Health as a result of bringing the two Departments together and some members of my Committee have played key roles in this.

We have instituted a series of employers’ visits to Bosnia and Kosovo amongst other locations. These have been extremely well received and very effective. So far the Medical Services have taken priority although there have been Equipment Support, Logistics, Infantry and Communications visits too. We are planning on a major event in June when the intention is to take an aircraft full of employers, together with members of the media, to Bosnia and Kosovo for two days and then return to visit the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood. They will brief the party on their work and we will end with a reception with Geoff Hoon and hopefully some other Ministers. We aim also to broaden attendance at this latter event to include other supportive employers and selected Reservists.

I am conscious that I am running out of time and, as I said at the start, I want to leave time for any questions. If I may, I should just say a few words about some of the other initiatives and work we have in hand. In early May we will be holding our NELC Annual Board Meeting. In addition to reporting on our Management Plan for last year, we will be setting new tasks and I hope that we will be able to approve TORs for two new Task Forces. One will consider communication issues whilst the other will advance our work with the medical issues.

In terms of communication, we have reprinted a number of our leaflets and, I trust, have made them more "user friendly" which should improve their utility. We have rewritten and re-branded what was "Working for You" and called it "Working for You – Working for Us". It is still a guide for employers and sets out the Reserve Forces Act 1996 provisions in a clear and simple way. In the same family of leaflets we are producing "Working for Us" which will be the Reservist’s guide on the same legislation. Likewise we are issuing a Unit Employer Support Pack which will explain our work and provide useful tools such as letters and ideas for promoting our cause with employers and tackling the problems that arise. We are also quite clear that we need to get our message across to more small and medium-sized employers and we will be looking to Associations, your Employer Support Committees and units to help us in this task.

On the medical front, we are attempting to persuade Associations of the value of running something like an Exercise MEDICAL CHALLENGE and to ensure that all the NHS Trusts are properly briefed on the importance of the Medical Reserves. We are hoping to get a pilot project underway with an Ambulance Trust whereby we will be able to share skills and training costs and hopefully improve paramedic skills whilst at the same time making more of our role in the local community. This has been described by one of its enthusiastic supporters as a "win, win, win" situation. Again my Committee members are actively assisting in this.

Just before I close I would like to commend the value of visits to you and to make a plea for openness and transparency in all our dealings with employers. I am visiting Bosnia over the next few days with Commander Joint Operations Vice Admiral Sir Ian Garnett. Later in August I will be attending the Nato Reserve Forces Committee Conference in Berlin where the main subject for the week will be Employer Support. This subject has grown in importance and I think that we have all got to get that fixed in our minds. We have still some way to go in terms of educating and persuading employers. It is all about partnership, negotiation, openness and honesty. The case of Flight Lieutenant Sebastian Nokes reported so widely last week, no matter what the outcome, serves to illustrate my point. I look to you for your help and I know that I can rely on you to support our efforts. Finally, and since I was not aware at my Meeting on 23rd February that it was Rob Lucas’s last attendance, may I thank him for all his efforts whilst he has been with the TAVRA? And may I also thank all those of you who are employers and already do so much to support us?

I will now be very happy to take any questions.

Chairman, Sir Charles, Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen: Good evening and thank you for inviting me to return to the "Land of my Fathers."

I was delighted to receive the invitation to attend this Dinner, and all the more so as I understood that I would not have to speak. However, when more recently, I was asked if I would say a few words by way of summarising at the end of the evening, I confess that I was still very happy to accept. I do have some things I would like to tell you! Not that I will try to match CDS’s anecdotes about Wales. And I am certainly not going to round the evening off with some light-hearted banter. In fact I do have some important messages I should like to pass on to you.

Listening to CDS’s talk, before Dinner, we heard him say what important roles our Reserve Forces have. As a former member of the Territorial Army – and currently the Honorary Colonel of the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars – I certainly endorse the value of service in the Reserves. Indeed, the "Profitable Partnership" message is one that the National Employers’ Liaison Committee has used since its inception.

We have recently adopted a new slogan. We are using on our new literature for employers: "Working For You – Working For Us." There is no doubt that today our Reservists are more usable. Indeed, as CDS said, about 10% of the total deployed force in Kosovo were Reservists. In their case, those that were in employment sought and gained the permission of their employers before being mobilised. In the past 5 years, some 6000 Reservists have been used, supporting their Regular counterparts all over the world – with the support of their employers. This has been principally on operations in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, but also in Iraq, the Gulf, the Falklands and other places. Without these Reservists, particularly in certain key areas, operations would not have been sustainable. Indirectly, therefore, all their employers, who generously released them, have been supporting our military operations overseas too.

So I would like to take this opportunity to thank those employers publicly. I know that there are some in the room tonight. Without your support, we could not have used those Reservists that we so badly needed. Thanking you is something we have not been good at doing in the past. It is, however, important to do so, because I know, from my own experience in industry, and latterly at the Office of Fair Trading, how disruptive and potentially costly being supportive can be.

And, of course, we need to thank the Reservists too. I know that there are some of you in the audience. Without your dedication and the support of your families and friends, we would probably not be able to sustain current levels of operations.

As I travel around the country I hear many comments and opinions about defence issues. I am well aware of the concerns that have been raised about having more usable Reserves. Some have even commented to me that it is a case of "Defence on the cheap!" The Government won’t pay for proper defence so let’s hit the business sector. But you know that isn’t the story at all. CDS mentioned just some of the transferable skills that are carried into the workplace; there are, I suggest, many, many more. Our Armed Forces, including the Reserves, receive world-class training and development in both management and technical skills. To add operational experience is, I suggest, immensely valuable. And perhaps I could add a reminder about the provisions of the Reserve Forces Act 1996, whereby employers have the ability to claim compensation towards the essential costs of replacing the Reservist employee when he or she is mobilised. This is vitally important for parts of the public sector such as education and health; but of course also so very important for small businesses where it can sometimes be very difficult to make ends meet. Since public funds are used, I am sure you will understand that there have to be limits and safeguards, but at least some financial provision is now available.

It is a fact of life that today, generally, there are relatively few civilians with experience of military service. This means that we, in the National Employers’ Liaison Committee and our Regional Committees, have quite a lot of educating and informing to do. The reports in the press last Autumn, that a feasibility study on compulsory mobilisation was being conducted, caused much employer concern. I can also tell you that it caused a great deal of concern in Reservists’ families too. I can be completely frank with you and tell you that I was involved in the consultations on mobilisation from a very early stage and throughout its duration. The outcome was made public but, in view of other events, was in the form of a written reply to a Parliamentary Question. This tends not to make the lead item on the 9 o’clock news so you may have missed it!! The Minister stated that compulsory mobilisation for Peace Support Operations – such as those in the Balkans – was both legal and feasible. He also said that, as a result of recent reductions in the Balkans of our operational commitments, there was no need for compulsory mobilisation at present.

As Lord Robertson said in July 1998, and as was re-stated in the recent Ministerial announcement, the Government is prepared to mobilise the Reserves in future if there are operational reasons to do so. Peace Support Operations, remember, do constitute a valid operational reason. I am reassured that if mobilisation happens, the Ministry of Defence will do so for the minimum time necessary and using the minimum possible numbers. Whenever possible the Ministry of Defence will continue to use the form of "voluntary mobilisation" now in use, as a first option. I do assure you that full recognition is now being given to the support of employers by the Ministry of Defence. I firmly believe it is in our nation’s interests to have effective and usable Reserves. This is an ideal opportunity for employers to make a relatively small investment in UK plc. For that I can guarantee they will earn an excellent return.

Minister, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen;

One particular advantage in speaking to you before we have our Dinner is the knowledge that I have to keep my remarks short or otherwise incur the wrath of the chefs. It also means that you will be able to enjoy the rest of the evening safe in the knowledge that you will not be required to pay rapt attention to any post-dinner speeches!

This is an occasion when I have great pleasure in welcoming our guests and it also allows me, publicly, to praise and thank members of my committee and the staff of the NELC Secretariat for all their hard work.

This has been quite a year for our Committee and we have made a number of changes to the way we do our business: the introduction of our Management Plan with individual objectives and targets, a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretary of State and application of the rules set out by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. These have all affected us to a greater or lesser degree. We have watched with interest, how the changes to the Territorial Army have been implemented and how the increased burden of operations has been managed within the Ministry of Defence. The fact that we came close to a major mobilisation of our Reserves, when the Kosovo B(-) option was under consideration, also earned our attention. In our Meeting, earlier today, we were able to discuss the impact that compulsory mobilisation, albeit on a very limited scale, might have on employer support.

The importance of the "Profitable Partnership", that we have used as our slogan over the years, has never been greater. It has lead us to a new theme on which we will be building next year – "Working for You – Working for Us". It is in this context that I would like to say how important I believe Vocational Qualifications are from both an employer’s point of view, and as an aid to retention for our Reservists. I have already told the Commander in Chief that the time has come to set some clear targets for the future. A soon as practicable anyone joining the Volunteer Reserves should have the expectation of gaining a Vocational Qualification within their first three years of service. That will provide us with the tangible proof of the value of training and of Reserve Service that we can demonstrate to employers. Coupled with the work being done on Personal Development Records and Records of Service and Achievement, we will be able to track and prove what training has been done. British business has become very competitive. To maintain employer support we too must become more professional.

But this is not the time just for commercials! I am very pleased indeed, to welcome the 16 guests who have joined us here this evening. Our principal guest, the Minister for the Armed Forces, John Spellar, needs no introduction I am sure, but we welcome you John, and congratulate you on your promotion. We also look forward to hearing a few words from you shortly. A very warm welcome, also, to Kevin Tebbit. Kevin joins us at dinner for the first time, having moved back to the Ministry of Defence as Permanent Under Secretary from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Kevin, we are pleased you could be with us this evening.

In keeping with our Tri-service role, we are delighted to welcome members of all the Services. As a former colleague on a certain Defence Support Agency, I am personally pleased that General Sir Roger Wheeler is able to be with us and also General Sir Alex Harley with whom we have important business on behalf of the Territorial Army. It is also very good to see that all the Reserves "Directors" are with us tonight; John Rimington, Sandy McCormick, Tony Verey and Richard Mighall – welcome to you all and especially to you Richard as you celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the formation of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

We, of course, rely on support from the Ministry of Defence and so I am very pleased that Air Marshal Pledger with his important role as Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel) is here and we also welcome the team from the Minister’s outer office, David and Fiona. As always our party would not be complete without our military advisers, welcome to all of them; I hope tonight will be a relaxing and enjoyable one for Black Rod after his recent hard work in Parliament – a disorderly house acquired a whole new meaning in 1999.

Finally two special guests before I say my thanks to my Committee. We could not be dining in these splendid apartments were it not for the kindness and generosity of the Governor of the Royal Hospital. Jeremy, it is most kind of you to allow us to hold our dinner here and we are most grateful. And last, but by no means least, it gives me great pleasure to welcome back the first chairman of the National Employers’ Liaison Committee, the driving force behind its formation and who built the foundations on which we operate today; Tommy, thank you for joining us tonight.

There are few opportunities for me to thank my remarkable Committee publicly and so, if our guests will forgive me for a few moments, I should like to do so now. And I may say that, on this occasion, there is a chance of wider readership as we now publish speeches and minutes of our deliberations on the Internet!

I mentioned our Management Plan at the outset and many members of the Committee have taken on additional specific tasks this year. Dame Margaret, thank you for your work with the NHS and for all that you have done in facilitating better communication with the Surgeon General. Well done too, on your trips including your visit to Kosovo. Anne, I am very grateful for the work you are doing with an issue dear to me, namely Vocational Qualifications. As I said earlier, this is a key factor in my view when we attempt to "sell" the value of service in the Reserve Forces. Lord Glenarthur, (congratulations on your new electoral mandate) Simon, thank you for your help with the medical initiatives; I am delighted that the Surgeon General’s staff are now running with those. David, I know that, apart from your visiting and local input in East Midlands, you have been co-ordinating TUC support; thank you. Likewise Frank, apart from your many other interests your support and involvement in West Midlands has been invaluable; and Hew, thank you for taking on the review of the processes of NELC business and for your involvement in Scotland generally. Michael, we are delighted that you will continue to assist us within the IoD. And welcome to our new member Susan from the CBI; we will soon be giving you plenty to do on our behalf!

We have a great deal to do; we have excellent support at Board Level in the top firms as my recent survey largely confirmed, but clear gaps in the communication chain between the Boardroom and the workplace remain. Similar gaps exist in the military chain of command in some places. We need to tackle both these areas.

We need to remember that there are many Volunteer Reservists working for small and medium sized employers; we must reach out more to that level than we have in the past. The impact of even a limited compulsory mobilisation is likely to be felt more in such businesses and we must recognise this and be in a position to reassure them.

Times have changed. The Reserve Forces Act and the way in which our Forces are now being used mean that our Reserve Forces are more usable and are more likely to be deployed than has been the case for many, many years. I am not yet convinced that this message has permeated all the levels of either the workplace or the Reserve Forces, but it is a message which must get through!

I will close by saying farewell to two of our military advisers, General Sir Edward Jones, Chairman of the Council, is with us for the last time in his present role. We thank him for his huge support and wise counsel and wish him well for the future. We also say farewell to Tony Verey who hands over as Brigadier TA early in the New Year. Tony, thank you and all good wishes for your future endeavours.

Finally, and very sadly, we are saying farewell to Paul Orchard-Lisle. Paul has been a stalwart of the Committee for 11 years and we have valued his input and advice greatly. Over the years he has found time to do a variety of additional tasks and public duties in addition to having a most successful business career. A former Brigadier TA, his experience and contacts have been invaluable during his time on the Committee but OCPA Rules are rules and so he must retire. Paul, thank you for all that you have done and I hope that we will be able to count on your continuing support, albeit outside the Committee, in the future.

It would be remiss of me to end without thanking most warmly the staff of the NELC Secretariat, Jim Blake for bridging the divide between his Chairman’s determination and the inertia in other parts of the system and the staff at Duke of York’s Headquarters who have doubled output this year with no additional resources. And finally, to John Bolton-Clark, without whom tonight’s dinner in all its finery could never have taken place.

Chairman, ladies and gentlemen;

First may I say how pleased I am to be here today, and secondly, reassure you that I will not be speaking for very long. However it is now over a year since I was last in Northern Ireland and there are a couple of topical issues regarding Defence in general, and employer support in particular, that I would like to say a few words about.

It is almost 18 months since the Strategic Defence Review was announced. George Robertson said then that the Reserve Forces would be more usable, more deployable, better integrated and better trained. It is also just a year since the Territorial Army Re-structuring plans were announced and already those plans are well on their way to full implementation.

More usable and deployable Reserves have in fact become key components in our Defence. The operational scene has changed too since I was here a year ago, we currently have British Forces deployed in two major regions of the Balkans as well as East Timor. Commitments continue in the Gulf, not to mention Cyprus and the Falkland Islands. For some capabilities, there is almost total reliance upon our Reserves to provide them. One particular area is that of medical support and I am delighted that we have such strong representation from both medical employers and medical units here today.

Reliance on the Reserves in the modern world is economical and efficient. As tax-payers we can applaud the Government for taking a pragmatic view and providing medical support in a cost effective way. From a military perspective, medical support becomes critical when deploying to fight or keep the peace. Providing we can deploy sufficient additional resources to support expeditionary operations, using the national medical infrastructure in peacetime is acceptable.

To provide a deployable medical resource however, we rely on the goodwill and support of the whole medical community in their role as employers and employees. Although we are presently seeking over 2000 additional men and women to join the medical reserves, we should keep the figures in perspective; they are very small in comparison with the overall size of the NHS. We do recognise that employers will, always, be concerned at the loss of key members of staff and there are provisions in the Reserve Forces Act to ensure that exemptions from call out or a deferral can be sought if necessary.

There has been media speculation recently about the compulsory mobilisation of the Territorial Army. I can tell you that a feasibility study is currently under way, but no decisions have yet been taken. I assure you that we will be vigorously representing the interests of employers and my National Committee is to be briefed on progress to date when we meet on Monday.

Compulsory mobilisation can also cause some members of the Reserves concern. Careers and other personal factors may mean that a call out is not welcome. There are provisions to address such issues within the Reserve Forces Act and we do recognise that, in some cases, there are both employer and employee circumstances to be considered.

Finally, however, I should like to take a few moments to thank the employers here today. We have three doctors from the Field Hospital as hosts that have recently returned from Kosovo. I met over 50 members of the TA in Bosnia just before Christmas last year. As I speak there are just over 550 members of the TA serving in Bosnia and Kosovo, the huge majority of them with the support and assistance of their employers; thank you for all your help.

The Reserves have indeed become an integral part of our Armed Forces. We can no more manage without them than they can manage without the support of their employers and families and friends. Supporting employees in the Reserve Forces does incur costs and may cause significant inconvenience. But we should make no mistake – it is a worthwhile cause. Thank you for your continued support. I do hope you can all see it as a valuable partnership; when they are not working for you, they are working for us. When Reserves return to you they are even better trained, better motivated and physically fit – and bring some remarkable new skills into your workplace.

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