To ask Her Majesty's Government what training obligations there are on members of Her Majesty's reserve forces; and how many have undertaken them in the past 12 months. [HL2731]

In order to qualify for an annual bounty, a tax-free, lump-sum bonus of up to £1,621 for meeting the training commitment, volunteer reservists are required to undertake a minimum 27 days training per annum, or 19 days for some specialist units.

Between 1 March 2009 and 1 March 2010, 20,470 volunteer reservists, excluding members of university units, received an annual bounty. This represents 61 per cent of all volunteer reservists, excluding members of university units—a level that has been stable for the past 20 years.

Members of the regular reserve currently have various training obligations according to service and status under the Reserve Forces Act 1996. In practice, these have not been applied since the end of the Cold War, although voluntary training may be undertaken. In 2009, 30 individuals received the ex-regular and other ranks training bounty of £369 for undertaking annual specialist military training of 5-10 days.