Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 121
121
Accepted
Strategic Reserves mobilised under Exercise Agile Stance after recent neglect
Conclusion
The Chief of the Defence Staff told us that the Reserve was also being mobilised under Exercise Agile Stance with a series of mobilisation exercises of Active Reserve elements taking place across each of the single Services, between January and March 2024 and in September 2024 which will “inform and develop the UK’s ability to mobilise Reserve Forces at pace and scale”. This will be followed by a strategy and concurrently an updated Agile Stance directive “to develop the capability and capacity to mobilise the Strategic Reserves at scale”—something which has not been done since 1991.240 In December 2023, the Permanent Secretary told us that the “the use and availability of, and ability to call out, a strategic reserve” had been a neglected area of MOD thinking in recent years.241 The role of the defence industry in the UK readiness
Government Response Summary
The government reaffirms the critical role of Reserves and the Strategic Reserve in national resilience and civil contingencies, highlighting their importance for mobilising military resources and sustaining warfighting capabilities.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Our strategic resilience draws also from our ability to mobilise at scale our military resources in a time of crisis in response to threats to our homeland. Our Reserves, with specialist skills and unique connections, will be at the heart of this effort, forming the core of the second- and third echelon forces that will reinforce and sustain warfighting capabilities and protect the homeland. The Strategic Reserve–built around the ex-regular reserve forces–will add further depth of capability, able to generate previously unassigned surge capacity and wider access to expertise in time of crisis or national emergencies. On Civil Contingencies, the UK’s Armed Forces continue to form an integral part of the Government’s effort to counter the threat from terrorism and other emergent crises–at home as well as overseas. We will continue to support the civil authorities more generally and will hold forces at high levels of readiness to respond to a wide range of national events and crises.