Draft Armed Forces Act
(Continuation) Order 2014
The Committee consisted of the following Members:
† Carmichael, Neil (Stroud) (Con)
† Crouch, Tracey (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)
† Cunningham, Sir Tony (Workington) (Lab)
Donaldson, Mr Jeffrey M. (Lagan Valley) (DUP)
† Donohoe, Mr Brian H. (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
† Doyle, Gemma (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op)
† Halfon, Robert (Harlow) (Con)
† Hamilton, Mr David (Midlothian) (Lab)
† Hamilton, Fabian (Leeds North East) (Lab)
† Heath, Mr David (Somerton and Frome) (LD)
† Hinds, Damian (East Hampshire) (Con)
† James, Mrs Siân C. (Swansea East) (Lab)
† Lancaster, Mark (Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury)
† Lumley, Karen (Redditch) (Con)
† Murphy, Paul (Torfaen) (Lab)
† Soubry, Anna (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence)
Tredinnick, David (Bosworth) (Con)
† Ward, Mr David (Bradford East) (LD)
Leoni Kurt, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee
Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee
Tuesday 1 July 2014
[Joe Benton in the Chair]
Draft Armed Forces Act (Continuation) Order 2014
2.30 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Anna Soubry): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered that the draft Armed Forces Act (Continuation) Order 2014.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Benton—it is a first for me—and I am pleased to move the draft order. Its purpose is to continue in force the legislation governing the armed forces, under the Armed Forces Act 2006, which the order will continue for a further period of one year, until November 2015.
In many respects, the draft order is a routine item of business. As the Committee knows, the legislation that makes the provision necessary for the armed forces to exist as disciplined forces is renewed by Parliament every year, which reflects the constitutional requirement under the Bill of Rights that the armed forces may not be maintained without the consent of Parliament. There is a five-yearly renewal by Act of Parliament, which is the primary purpose of the Armed Forces Acts. The most recent such Act was in 2011; the next is required in 2016.
Between the Acts, there must be annual renewal by Order in Council. That is the purpose of the draft order. It is necessary for the 2006 Act, as amended by the Armed Forces Act 2011, to remain in force. If the Order in Council is not made by the end of 2 November 2014, the Armed Forces Act 2006 will automatically expire. The effect of that would be to end the powers and provisions to maintain the armed forces as disciplined bodies. I will say a little more about that later.
The 2006 Act transformed the legislation governing the armed forces by introducing a single system of law to apply to all service personnel. It replaced three separate systems of service law, contained in separate service discipline Acts, which dated back to the 1950s. The 2006 Act includes a comprehensive system of discipline, covering such matters as offences, the powers of the service police and the jurisdiction and powers of the commanding officers and of service courts, in particular the court martial. It applies to all service personnel wherever in the world they may be operating.
The service justice system is a bespoke criminal justice system that recognises the wide spectrum of environments and situations in which the armed forces serve. It ensures that the same basic rights and procedures apply to all members of the armed forces accused of misconduct. It fits the context in which the men and women of our Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Army and the RAF train and work together. Let us not forget the civilians in the equation, because in certain circumstances, while overseas, they are also subject to service discipline. The
service justice system underpins the maintenance of discipline throughout the chain of command, which is fundamental to the operational effectiveness of our armed forces. If I may say so, it works well.I saw aspects of the system in operation when I visited Colchester in May. I was particularly impressed with the facilities at the military corrective training centre, which my notes state is not a prison. I have some experience of prison, because I used to go to prison to see clients, who were serving sentences or in custody because their bail had been withdrawn, and there are similarities between prison and the MCTC. One of the things that struck me about it, however, was the way in which those who were going to be leaving our military service are in effect trained and equipped to transit out of service and to return to civilian life. I did not see that aspect of the centre that deals with those remaining in the services, but I learned enough about it to be content. In short, the MCTC does an outstanding and excellent job.
I will say a little more about what would happen were the 2006 Act to expire. The 2006 Act provides nearly all the provisions for the existence of an armed forces system of command, discipline and justice, as well as a large number of other important provisions, such as enlistment, pay and the system for the redress of complaints. The obligation on members of the armed forces is in essence a duty to obey lawful orders. They have no contracts of employment, and so no duties as employees. Without the 2006 Act, commanding officers and the court martial would have no powers of punishment for disciplinary, or indeed criminal, misconduct. It is true that members of the armed forces would still owe allegiance to Her Majesty, but Parliament would have removed the power of enforcement. Discipline in every sense is fundamental to the success of our armed forces. That is why we need to continue the legislation.
I mentioned earlier the Armed Forces Act 2011, which was much smaller in scale than the Armed Forces Act 2006. It provided for continuation of the 2006 Act for another five years and made some changes to that Act to keep it up to date with the needs of the services. There will be another Armed Forces Act in 2016, but the 2006 Act is doing a good job. It serves the armed forces well and they deserve nothing less. In turn, the armed forces continue to serve us well.
2.35 pm
Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op): It is a pleasure, Mr Benton, to serve under your chairmanship. I am pleased to support the draft order, which will renew the current Armed Forces Act for one year to 2015 and renew Parliament’s consent for our armed forces. There are many issues on which the Government and the Opposition disagree, but I am delighted to confirm that this is not one of them.
On Saturday, I was honoured to attend our national Armed Forces day event in Stirling and I congratulate all the organisers, including Stirling council, on putting on a fantastic day. It was some sight to see hordes of people streaming down from watching the parade to the Drumhead service in front of the truly glorious backdrop of Stirling castle to celebrate the contribution of our armed forces. Our armed forces put on a magnificent show on Saturday, including, I am proud to say, cadets
from Clydebank. Other events took place throughout the country at the weekend, and many will take place this coming weekend.This year marks the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings and the centenary of the beginning of the first world war. The men who gave their lives all those years ago epitomise the courage, dedication and professionalism with which our armed forces served and continue to serve. I am pleased that we are marking these anniversaries solemnly and appropriately.
Today’s armed forces are highly trained and adaptable. They and their families put up with what is sometimes a very trying way of life, but they do it because they want to serve. The least we can do is give them a route for redress so that they have confidence in knowing that if things go wrong, something can be done about it.
The Minister will know that last year, following the successful establishment of the post of Service Complaints Commissioner, we called for the creation of an ombudsman for service complaints. I am delighted that we now have cross-party agreement on that. For too long, injustices have gone unpunished or unreported. Justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done. The chain of command is vital to the effective operation of the armed forces, but when something goes wrong there must be a route for redress that is not dependent on the chain of command. I look forward to scrutinising the legislation in Committee in the coming months.
Along with giving our service personnel and veterans a route to redress when something goes wrong within the forces, it is also important that they have one for when something goes wrong outside the forces. That is why we believe that we should legislate to make it a specific criminal offence to assault or discriminate against a member of our armed forces because of their service.
Our forces have the right to expect to operate in a strategic and competent context. We continue to have concerns about the Government’s recruitment of reserves, which is not going particularly well. The Government are sticking to their plan to cut the number of regulars before sufficient reserves have been recruited. That places Army 2020 plans in jeopardy, and Ministers must get to grips with that to ensure the UK does not end up with fewer available troops than it wants.
It has been reported that, in some months this year, more Brits have gone to fight in Syria than have joined the reserves. I sincerely hope that is not the case but, from the figures presented, it appears it may well be.
As politicians, we sometimes have to tread a fine line when we talk about our service personnel. We recognise what are, at times, incredible achievements and we want to ensure that those who are injured get the support they need. However, the message I often hear from military personnel is that they do not want to be presented as either heroes or hopeless and nothing in between. Veterans and service personnel appreciate recognition of their service and achievements but do not want us to think they are either superhumans or broken humans. Around 20,000 people leave our forces every year and, for most of them, service life has been a positive experience, which lends itself well to a new life outside the military.
Today, we are taking the decision to ask those serving and protecting us to continue to do so and to be ready to carry out whatever task we in this place ask of them. I am very grateful that they will, and that they will do it with a professionalism that is the envy of peoples around the world.