Consultation exercise
8. The Memorandum states that the Tri-Service Bill
team undertook visits to a number of Service establishments where
discussions were held with all ranks. Discussions were also held
with representatives of the Armed Forces of the United States,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all of which have forms of
harmonised Service legislation. Responses to questionnaires were
also received from the French, German and Dutch defence ministries.
Where appropriate, other stakeholders such as welfare and families'
organisations and trade unions were consulted.[9]
9. At the evidence session on 2 February 2005 we
asked about the level of consultation as we were concerned that,
during our recent visits to Cyprus and Northern Ireland, few of
the Service personnel we spoke to had much knowledge of the proposals
which are likely to feature in the Bill. Mr Caplin told us that
he 'would expect very few of our current serving members of the
Armed Forces to know what we are doing at the present time…
there will be significant internal and external consultation and
public relations campaigns once we get the Bill a bit further
on'.[10] However, Mrs
Jones, Head of the Armed Forces Bill team told us that 'Work really
started in earnest… back in about 2001. Most of the work
involved a great deal of consultation with the Service themselves
at the beginning because this is an enormous change for the Services
to move to a single Act'.[11]
10. Mr Morrison, MoD's legal adviser provided some
clarification on the issue of consultation:
We spent at least 18 months visiting units and commands
both in Britain, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Germany, Cyprus and
elsewhere. We discussed at all ranks, from the senior command
to open meetings with all ranks… This was not obviously consultation
on the Bill, it was asking them about their views of discipline,
the way discipline worked, their views of the other Services'
disciplinary arrangements.[12]
He added:
It was not consultation in the sense that we were
not putting to them our proposals and saying "What do you
think of those?" I was trying to draw a distinction between
that sort of exercise, which is the next stage, and the sort of,
if you like, consultation or fact-finding which was making sure
that we understood how people at all ranks saw the problems.[13]
11. Mr Caplin saw our inquiry 'as part of the consultation
process', but added that MoD 'have a very, very demanding timetable…
Long consultation is unlikely but some consultation is necessary'.[14]
He anticipated 'being able to start consulting around mid year…
We will have formulated more proposals; we will talk through the
chain of command where we are and then go out and do some consultation.
That should be in good time for the introduction of the Bill in
the autumn'.[15]
12. We consider it very important for MoD to consult
with those who will be affected by the proposals in the Tri-Service
Armed Forces Bill—the men and women of our Armed Forces.
MoD plans to 'start consulting around mid-year'. However, given
that the timetable for the introduction of the Bill is autumn
2005, we are concerned that this might lead to less time than
is needed for a proper consultation exercise to take place. We
consider this issue further in the context of parliamentary scrutiny
in Chapter 4 below. We look to MoD to ensure that proper consultation
is undertaken and, where appropriate, the outcome of the consultation
is reflected in the proposals in the Bill.
Timetable for the Bill
13. Mr Caplin told us that 'there is an enormous
amount of detailed work going on to ensure that we make the most
of the opportunity we have now'.[16]
He added that 'although there is a lot of work to be done, officials
are very clear that we have a timetable to meet'.[17]
14. We asked Mr Caplin how confident he was that
the Bill will be introduced in the autumn of 2005. He told us
that:
I am confident… Recently I have had further
discussions with the three Service Principal Personnel Officers
and we have discussed the introduction of the Bill. We are confident
about meeting the target that the House has asked us to meet which
is to introduce this in the next session of Parliament. We aim
and expect to be able to do that.[18]
15. The Government plans to introduce the Tri-Service
Armed Forces Bill in the autumn of 2005. However, as MoD recognises,
there is a great deal of work to be done. We look to MoD to keep
us updated on the further development of the proposals in the
Bill by way of regular reports.
1 Strategic Defence Review, Ministry of Defence,
July 1998, Cm 3999, para 133 Back
2
Ev 35 Back
3
Ev 35 Back
4
Ev 37 Back
5
Ev 36 Back
6
Ev 36-54 Back
7
Ev 70-74 Back
8
Ev 36 Back
9
Ev 38 Back
10
Q 115 Back
11
Q 113 Back
12
Q 118 Back
13
Q 119 Back
14
Q 120 Back
15
Q 121 Back
16
Q 105 Back
17
Q 107 Back
18
Q 110 Back
