coalition ministers are being urged to sign their staff up to the Army reserves to help solve a recruitment crisis after thousands of soldiers were sacked.

The Government also wants more school-leavers to become reservists.

The drive comes as the size of the Army is being cut from 102,000 personnel to 82,500 by December 2018.

To fill the gap, ministers want to almost double the number of reservists from 15,000 to 30,000, but the latest figures suggest there are just in excess of 19,000.

Now ministers have set a target to sign up one per cent of all staff working for UK Government departments.

The Defence Secretary Philip Hammond stressed the importance of reservists at the Coalition's weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.

The Prime Minister's ­official spokesman said: "All departments have signed up to what is referred to as a "one per cent challenge" which means one per cent of their employees participating in the reserve."

Last month a damning report by the spending watchdog the National Audit Office warned that there were "significant risks" surrounding the reservists plan. And the current head of the Army, General Sir Peter Wall, has said the policy could be in jeopardy if defence spending is cut further.