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<p>The Services are committed to achieving culture change to break down barriers between
Regulars and Reserves and improve cohesion. This is being addressed through a number
of programmes.</p><p>We continue to invest in more integrated training and in equipment
for the Reserves. Reserves have access to the same equipment and technology as Regulars
across all the Services. Army Reserve Units are now commonly paired with Regular Units
and train alongside them using the same modern equipment and, when required, may also
deploy with them. The Army also employs individual reservists alongside Regular personnel,
for example in intelligence roles. The Maritime and RAF Reserves are most often used
to provide individuals and small teams for specific roles. Their training is designed
to integrate them with the Regulars.</p><p>We have streamlined the process for transferring
from the Regulars to the Reserves to enable people with key skills to share their
knowledge and expertise. We are also actively working to identify any policy or process
issues that may hinder the use of reservists and to remove these barriers wherever
possible.</p><p>We have developed a set of indicators of culture change and we have
put in place a process through which the Services will assess their progress against
these indicators and provide evidence of that progress to senior leadership in the
Department. This will allow the Ministry of Defence to identify and share examples
of good practice as well as issues to be addressed.</p><p>These initiatives have begun
to have a positive effect. In the 2016 Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey, almost
two thirds of Regulars who had served alongside Reservists rated them as professional,
with a similar number rating the Reserves' contribution as valuable. This is a firm
foundation on which we can build and we are working to do so.</p>
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