The Act - Commentary on Sections Part 3 – Amendments of Reserve Forces Act 1996
126.Paragraphs 11 to 13 amend the Reserve Forces Act 1996.
127.Part 4 of that Act sets out the obligations of members of the reserve forces who enter into special agreements relating to service. They may then be called out by notice. Section 31 of the 1996 Act allows the Secretary of State to terminate the agreement, and section 35 allows him to delegate certain functions. Paragraph 11of this schedule inserts a reference to section 31 in section 35 of the 1996 Act, so that the ability to terminate an agreement under section 31 may be delegated.
128.Section 41 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 refers to persons who “have given” notice under subsection (1). A later subsection wrongly referred to them as persons who “have been given” notice. Paragraph 12 corrects the reference by removing “been” from the later subsection.
129.Paragraph 13 amends section 125 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996, which provides that members of the reserve forces are not liable to punishment for absence when voting in specified elections. The provision is expanded to include in the list references to elections for members of the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.