Army Savings and the Cadet Forces

We were delighted to learn of yesterday's reversal of the in-year cuts in Territorial Army activity but it will not be common knowledge that the £4m in-year cuts made by the Army to its cadet programme are still in force. We are well aware of the pressure on the Army's budget this year and the cuts, whilst disappointing did not come as a complete surprise. Moreover, because this part of the year is relatively quiet, the impact though significant is far from catastrophic - our cadet force adult volunteers are getting on with their activities with cadets as best they can.

Our real concern however is over the looming prospect of similar, or larger cuts in the Army's future cadet budget which is being prepared right now for next year - we are far from confident that the commendable resolve shown by our 8,500 adult volunteers thus far will endure these further cuts and we may well see a reduction in our adult strength, especially among the more junior volunteers who have the most contact with the cadets. It goes without saying that if we lose our volunteers we will be unable to train the cadets and therefore many children will miss out on the benefits of their cadet experience and will be exposed to the frightening risks inherent in boredom and ‘bad company'. The erosion of cadet strengths (currently 45,000) will also deprive the Army of thousands of potential future ambassadors, as well as some of the very best officer and soldier entrants to both the Regular and Territorial Army.

The current cut, and prospect of more to come is all the more disappointing when set against the public announcements of the Prime Minister, Mr Balls and others in the Cabinet over plans to expand the cadet forces in order to increase opportunities for children of all backgrounds to share the benefits. Our Charity shares this vision of expansion but it is increasingly difficult to see how this might ever be realised now that funding pressures on the Army are putting in jeopardy even the scale and scope of our current programme.

BBC News: Brown and Cameron on territorial cuts