§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the rationale is behind the target of 60 per cent. for members of the TA to achieve their bounty each year; and what the target was in each year since 1997. [81108]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Territorial Army does not set any targets for members to achieve bounty, and has never done so. The criteria for awarding a bounty are: completion of a 15-day period of continuous training; or, if authorised, a reduced camp of eight days. In addition, Independent TA personnel must undertake out camp training for 12 days (this is reduced to four days for Specialists) and achieve three passes in 39W individual Training Directives 1–5 (this is reduced to two passes for Specialists). Finally, all personnel must be awarded the COs Certificate of Efficiency in order to qualify for a bounty.
There is currently a Fit For Role target of 60 per cent. of the TA's strength. The rationale behind this target is based on the fact that the TA is at least 5 per cent undermanned; on average 25 per cent. of all TA are under recruit or Class 3 training at any one time; and up to 10 per cent. of members are unable to meet the training commitments for personal or business reasons. Between training years 1996–97 and 2001–02 the TA employed a Fit For Role target of 55 per cent. of strength. We expect that the TA will meet the target of 60 per cent. of this financial year.