Memorandum from the Soldiers, Sailors,
Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help
INDEPENDENT MILITARY
COMPLAINTS MECHANISM
We welcome proposals to enable independent participation
in the mechanism for examination of service complaints.
The guiding principles must be for transparency,
ease of access, and credibility.
We believe that independent participation ideally
needs to be at all levels of the process, not just at the Service
Board level, which is too inaccessible, and in practice relatively
rarely attained.
We accept that for practical reasons complaints
panels will probably need to be owned by the chain of command,
as ultimately any redress can only be granted by MoD, but this
need not rule out independent participation. It will however be
very important to carefully define "independence", (which
clearly must be demonstrable as "independent" from the
chain of command), and guarantee that due weight will given to
the view of the independent participant, particularly if it is
to be one person only as part of a panel.
We cannot overemphasise too strongly our
absolute support for the need to preserve the integrity of the
service chain of command, but believe that the function of
chain of command has been too narrowly represented in earlier
debate, and also doubt claims—that military capability and
good order will be threatened by such independent participation,
to be overstated. The reverse is more likely to be the case, and
we believe that the ability of the chain of command, in the broadest
definition, to discharge its Duty of Care and administrative authority
for resolving complaints, will be significantly enhanced by appropriately
informed independent participation.
We also believe that independent participation
will be essential in the case of complaints brought by civilians
who may be subject to decisions of the chain of command, particularly
in overseas commands. This should include service spouses who
may prefer to represent a grievance on their own account rather
than through the medium of the serving person.
BOARDS OF
INQUIRY—RIGHT
OF ATTENDANCE
BY NEXT
OF KIN
Although not specifically asked to be addressed
in this session, we would wish to represent our views on this
matter of current concern.
Where Boards of Inquiry are convened to investigate
death or serious injury, we believe that next of kin should not
be automatically excluded.
We fully accept that there may sometimes be
overriding considerations of security, or even risk of extraordinary
distress to next of kin due the nature of death or injury. But
unless the convening authority can demonstrate this, or any other
valid reason for exclusion, attendance by next of kin should be
allowed as a matter of course
This would not only help the families come to
terms with their loss, but also, in demonstrating compassionate
openness, restore trust and confidence in the MoD system.
CHILD PROTECTION—SAFEGUARDING
OF CHILDREN
OF SERVICE
FAMILIES OVERSEAS
We are concerned that the existing provisions
at Section 111 of the 1991 Armed Forces Act relating to the powers
of Commanding Officers and other responsible persons in overseas
commands to authorise child protection orders overseas does not
appear in the current Armed Forces Bill.
Although a relatively infrequent occurrence,
the need for legal powers to safeguard children in overseas commands
has neither diminished nor disappeared, and needs in our view
to be contained in primary legislation.
We believe the most appropriate person to authorise
such orders would be a judicial officer, although Commanding Officers
or their competent representatives should have these powers in
case of emergency.
It may be that we have misread the draft, but
would wish to be reassured that this apparent omission is not
a technical oversight. Mrs Burgess, as Director of Social Work,
will speak to this.
January 2006
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