Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of integrated training strategies for the armed forces, allowing reservists to join regulars during operational tours.

The Future Reserves 2020 Programme has delivered Reserve Forces that are better integrated with their Regular counterparts as an element of the Whole Force. Reserves from all three Services regularly train with Regulars and use the same kit and equipment as them. Call-out Orders are routinely put in place to enable Reservists to be brought into permanent service (mobilised) as required to serve on operations alongside Regulars, either in individual roles or as formed units.

Maritime Reservists routinely join their Regular colleagues on operations, principally providing specialist skill sets such as Maritime Trade Operations. For example, Royal Marines Reserves are mobilised annually to support the Lead Commando Group and Royal Naval Reserves are routinely mobilised to the Offshore Patrol Squadron.

The Army has paired Reserve units with their Regular counterparts, and they train alongside them and deploy with them where necessary. Army Reserves were a vital part of the forces supporting the Government’s response to COVID-19 and have been mobilised to assist in preparation for post-BREXIT transition as well as for other operations in the UK and overseas.

RAF Reservists are trained to be interoperable with their Regular counterparts and on completion of any pre-deployment training they are routinely deployed alongside them. As part of the Defence response to COVID-19, several hundred RAF Reservists were mobilised to support a range of tasks including as Liaison Officers to Other Government Departments, Planners and to support Mobile Testing and the Vaccination Task Force.