The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
minimising
the impact on Harmony Guidelines by reducing other
commitments;
•
rolling out
the OWP developed for Op TELIC – which had been well received
–
to other
operations;
•
establishing
and resourcing appropriate immediate and long-term
arrangements
for stress
management, including for Reservists; and
•
improving
accommodation.
74.
Maj Gen
Richards also highlighted measures which would improve the
retention
of Reservists,
including:
•
greater
consistency with Regular Service Personnel, in terms of eligibility
for
operational
benefits, allowances and medals; and
•
ensuring
that no Reservist was financially disadvantaged because of Op
TELIC.
75.
AVM Sturley
assessed that “the combined effect of [Ops] FRESCO, TELIC
and
our other
commitments has hurt”.56
AVM Sturley
identified a number of measures to
improve
retention, the first of which (for Regular Service Personnel) was
to reduce future
commitments.
76.
Lt Gen Palmer
told the Inquiry that, as DCDS(Personnel), his “major
preoccupation”
was to
reduce the number of troops in Iraq quickly, to reduce the pressure
on individual
Service
Personnel and the Harmony Guidelines.57
He
emphasised that those efforts
were always
in consultation with PJHQ and never at operational
risk.58
77.
Commodore Noel
Preston-Jones, Director Service Personnel Policy,
briefed
the 28 May
2003 meeting of the SPB that the responses from RAdm
McClement,
Maj Gen
Richards and AVM Sturley “had, inter alia, highlighted the need for
a reduction
in
commitments”.59
The
assessments of the impact of current commitments on
retention
varied.
Overall, the Royal Navy and Army anticipated a net benefit from Op
TELIC,
while the
RAF and Defence Medical Services anticipated a net loss. The
emerging
conclusions
of the “people” work strand of the Recuperation Initiative included
the
need to
relieve pressure on pinch points,60
“for
example by reducing commitments,
resolving
under manning or adjusting the force structure”.
78.
At its 28 May
meeting, the SPB also discussed priorities for the MOD’s Short
Term
Plan for
2004 (STP04),61
and in
particular the “significant structural under-funding
across
the people
area”. Lt Gen Palmer concluded that any STP bid needed to be
underpinned
56
Minute ACAS
to DCDS(Pers), 7 May 2003, ‘Recuperation – People
Workstrand’.
57
Public
hearing, 21 July 2010, page 75.
58
Public
hearing, 21 July 2010, page 79.
59
Minutes, 28
May 2003, Service Personnel Board meeting.
60
The MOD
defines pinch point trades as trades or areas of expertise where
there is not enough trained
strength to
perform operational tasks without encroaching on the time provided
between deployments for
recuperation,
training and leave.
61
The Short
Term Plan forecast MOD spending on operational costs, looking four
years ahead.
16