SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 14Amendments relating to reserve forces

Reserve Forces Act 1996 (c. 14)

54

(1)

Schedule 1 to that Act (enlistment) is amended as follows.

(2)

For paragraph 2(1) substitute—

“(1)

An enlisting officer shall not enlist a person under the age of 18 unless consent to the enlistment has been given in writing by—

(a)

an appropriate person; or

(b)

if the person offering to enlist is living with more than one appropriate person, each of those appropriate persons.

(1A)

In this paragraph “appropriate person” means, in relation to a person offering to enlist, a person with—

(a)

parental responsibility (within the meaning of the Children Act 1989 or the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995) for him; or

(b)

parental responsibilities (within the meaning of section 1(3) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) in relation to him.”

(3)

In paragraph 2(2) for “appropriate minimum age” substitute “ age of 18 ”.

(4)

In paragraph 4(4) for “appropriate minimum age” substitute “ age of 18 ”.

(5)

In paragraph 5—

(a)

in sub-paragraph (1) omit “or recklessly”;

(b)

in sub-paragraph (2) for “subject to service law” substitute “ a member of the reserve forces ”;

(c)

in sub-paragraph (3) for the words from “has since” to the end substitute “ becomes a member of the reserve forces is liable on conviction by the Court Martial to any punishment mentioned in rows 2 to 12 of the Table in section 164 of the Armed Forces Act 2006. ”;

(d)

after that sub-paragraph add—

“(4)

For the purposes of determining the Court Martial's powers when sentencing an offender to whom Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the Armed Forces Act 2006 (ex-servicemen etc) applies for an offence under sub-paragraph (1), sub-paragraph (3) has effect as if the reference to rows 2 to 12 were to rows 2 to 10.

(5)

Where an offence under sub-paragraph (1) is committed by a person within sub-paragraph (3), the time for which he is for the purposes of section 62 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 (time limits for charging) to be regarded as being a relevant reservist (within the meaning of that section) includes the period from (and including) the time he committed the offence to the time he became a member of the reserve forces.”

(6)

In paragraph 6(1) for “a court-martial” substitute “ the Court Martial ”.

(7)

Omit paragraph 7 and the heading before it.