Examination of Witnesses (Questions 460-462)
GENERAL SIR
MICHAEL WALKER
16 FEBRUARY 2006
Q460 Mr Jones: But, General, it is
not helped, is it, by certain senior retired generals and others
perpetuating this myth? I work on the basis of facts and if people
can actually pin it down and say that this has actually happened
I am quite prepared then to address it, but this seems to me to
be just the chattering classes amongst retired—
General Sir Michael Walker: No,
no. There is an element of that but I also do think that when
you talk to the serving people who are implementing command at
the moment, they also are very much more aware that there is a
scrutiny out there of a nature and a quality that was not there
before.
Mr Jones: That is modern society, of
course.
Robert Key: Thank you very much. Could
we end this session with one further area? The end of the arms
plot will undoubtedly bring all sorts of benefits but there may
be some unintended consequences.
Q461 Bob Russell: The infantry will
be moving into larger groupings in "super garrisons",
which you will be very familiar with, of course. Do you think
the changes will affect the administration of military justice?
For example, with bigger groupings does it mean that the Commanding
Officers will have more personnel under their command and will
it therefore be necessary to delegate more powers to subordinates?
General Sir Michael Walker: I
do not think it will have the slightest impact. Remember that
although there are new groupings the groupings are by and large
administrative groupings with no role in the chain of command.
The battalion will essentially be pretty much as it is today,
so the link from the man at the front through his Commanding Officer
up the chain will be pretty much as it is today. I do not think
it will have any impact at all.
Q462 Robert Key: General, in conclusion,
is there any message that you would like to give the Committee
in our deliberations?
General Sir Michael Walker: No.
I was worried to hear that there was a thought that we in the
Service Chiefs did not think this was a good idea. I must expunge
that absolutely. We have been very supportive of this notion.
We want this Bill to go through. We think it delivers for our
people a better legal act and process and it will bring coherence,
it will bring understanding and it will bring harmony to our legal
system, so we are for it. Please do not think otherwise.
Robert Key: General Sir Michael Walker,
thank you very much indeed for your time.
| 
