Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average cost to the public purse was of training to deployable status (a) a Royal Marine and (b) an infantryman in the latest period for which figures are available. [24271]

Nick Harvey MP; Minister of State for the Armed Forces[holding answer 15 November 2010]: The training cost for a Royal Marine from recruitment to graduation from the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM) is in the region of £54,000. Other than local familiarisation training, a graduate from CTCRM is fully deployable.

The training cost for an Infantry soldier from recruitment to graduation from the Infantry Training Centre is in the region of £31,000. However, a soldier is not deployable at that stage and will undertake further training to become operationally effective within their unit. These further costs are not collected centrally and will include an element of local training where the cost: is not easily identifiable, for example one to one instruction by a Non-Commissioned Officer improving tactical knowledge of a unit's operational function.