Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

Commons Reason

Motion A

Moved by

That this House do not insist on its disagreement with the Commons in their Amendment 2A in lieu of Lords Amendments 2 and 3, and do not insist on its Amendments 2B and 2C in lieu of that amendment, to which the Commons have disagreed for their Reason 2D.

2D: Because the Bill creates an effective regime for the investigation of matters of concern to service personnel and their families, Amendment 2A makes appropriate provision to protect the anonymity of individuals who raise such concerns, and the additional provision inserted by Amendments 2B and 2C is unnecessary and inappropriate.

My Lords, with permission, I will say something that I should have said at the end of the defence review debate. I pay tribute to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Bristol, who, as we know, has now left your Lordships’ House. We wish her well in the future and have valued her contributions over many years.

I also note, as I know the noble Baroness opposite and the Liberal Front Bench will too, that today is our last opportunity here to mark VJ Day, which will be on 15 August. We know that the nation will commemorate it in the appropriate way, with respect to all of that.

I am delighted that the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill has returned to your Lordships’ Chamber ahead of the Summer Recess. I thank all Members of this House for their expertise and insight and the time they have generously given in critiquing this landmark Bill.

During Commons consideration of Lords amendments on 2 July, the amendments on whistleblowing tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, were put to a vote and were disagreed to. The Government’s proposed Amendment 2A was reinserted. While we have debated the wording and legal functioning of the amendments in question at length, it has become clear that both Houses agree on the importance of a robust and transparent process for service personnel to raise their concerns and blow the whistle. We want our Armed Forces and their families to have confidence and trust in the system and to feel empowered and protected to come forward with their concerns.

We have actively engaged and heard valuable contributions both in this Chamber and outside. In particular, I express my sincere thanks to the noble Baronesses, Lady Goldie, Lady Smith and Lady Kramer, who have been incredibly generous with their time and expertise. As a result of these constructive discussions, the Government have decided to initiate a whistleblowing in defence review led by my colleague, the Minister for Veterans and People, Al Carns MP.

Importantly, for clarity, I would like to read into the record the letter dated 9 July that the Minister for Armed Forces and I sent to the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, copied to others, detailing our commitment to undertake this review. I hope the House will bear with me—it is important to have this on the record:

“As you powerfully raised in Grand Committee and in the proceeding debates, Defence personnel must feel empowered and protected to come forward with their concerns, and Defence needs to address and eliminate toxic behaviours and cultures in the Armed Forces. We could not agree more.

This Government has already initiated our Raising our Standards … workstream to direct, cohere and enable behaviours and culture work across the whole of Defence. The programme has been allocated £100 million of funding over the next 3 years. Other planned work includes, but is not limited to: a regional pilot for hubs providing support to victims of Violence Against Women and Girls, launching a Tri-Service Complaints Unit and piloting an initiative to provide independent legal advice to victims of sexual assault.

To further strengthen this programme of work we will initiate a Whistleblowing in Defence Review led by the Minister for Veterans and People, Al Carns MP. This will allow us to look at whistleblowing in a broader context, rather than solely in the general service welfare sphere. Of course how the Armed Forces Commissioner fits into this landscape will be an important part of the review.

The Review will assess … Whether the current Raising a Concern policy is fit for purpose … How we communicate our policy to service personnel … Whether personnel understand the processes for raising issues and the protections they are afforded … The consistency between the application and accessibility of military and civilian whistleblowing procedures; and … Crucially, whether legislation is needed to implement any changes.

Further details of the Review will be published via a Written Ministerial Statement in due course. The review will produce initial findings by the end of this year and a final report and recommendations by Spring 2026.

Should any agreed measures require changes to legislation, we will look to do this in a suitable vehicle as soon as parliamentary time allows. Whilst it would be premature to commit to a specific Bill at this stage, you will be aware that the Armed Forces Act requires renewing via primary legislation before the end of 2026.

As we have made clear in respective debates, we want this to be a substantive, meaningful process with tangible outcomes to improve the lives of service personnel. To that end, we are keen to hear the views and perspectives of you and your parliamentary colleagues and will hold consultation sessions to facilitate this”.

The noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, kindly responded to this letter earlier this week, stating her support for our proposed review and suggesting a number of areas it should focus on. First and foremost, the noble Baroness advocated