1 Introduction
Our inquiry
1. Defence Committees have a long interest in
the Service complaints system and the Service Complaints Commissioner,
including recommending in the 2005 Report, Duty of Care,
that the then Government should move towards establishing an independent
military complaints commission (see Annex).[1]
The Commissioner has now published four Annual Reports commenting
on the Service complaints system and the MoD has deposited in
the House of Commons Library a formal response to each of them
and to the recommendations made in them. Given the concerns the
Commissioner expressed in those Annual Reports about the Service
complaints system and her opinion on the future role of the Commissioner,
we decided it was an appropriate time to hold a short inquiry
into the work of the Service Complaints Commissioner. We announced
this inquiry on 17 July 2012 in order to examine the effectiveness
of the Service Complaints Commissioner, including the powers and
resources available to her, the complaints system (including possible
improvements), and the Commissioner's relationship with the MoD
and the single Services. We took oral evidence from Dr Susan Atkins,
the Service Complaints Commissioner, on 21 November 2012. We received
six pieces of written evidence to our inquiry and are grateful
to all those who submitted evidence. We are also grateful to our
staff and Specialist Advisers for their assistance during our
inquiry.[2] As well as
commenting on the Service complaints system, the powers of the
Commissioner and her role in relation to the Armed Forces Covenant,
our Report looks ahead to the appointment of the new Commissioner
when the current Commissioner's appointment ends at the end of
March 2014.
1 Defence Committee, Third Report of Session 2004-05,
Duty of Care, HC 45, paras 423-427 Back
2
The relevant interests of the Committee's Specialist Advisers
can be found in the Committee's Formal Minutes which are available
on the Committee's website. Back
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