My Lords, I start by declaring an interest, namely that my son-in-law is an active reservist in the British Army.
It is an honour to move the Second Reading of a Bill that received cross-party parliamentary support in the other place. Noble Lords will know that the first duty of any Government is to keep our nation safe. That is why last week the Prime Minister announced an increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in 2027, ahead of a further anticipated rise to 3% in the next Parliament. It is also why the Prime Minister has shown determined leadership in the search for an end to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, because Ukraine’s front line in the defence of its sovereignty is also the front line of our security.
I thank noble Lords for their many words of support at this challenging time for our nation and allies as we seek the best way forward. The unity of purpose rings out from this Chamber. At the heart of our diplomatic efforts to end the conflict are the men and women of our Armed Forces—the dedicated professionals who would provide the boots on the ground, and aircraft overhead, to support any such peace deal—behind whom are thousands of supportive families, whose own sacrifices underpin military service.
Like many noble Lords, I have had the privilege of meeting serving personnel, both at home and overseas, from visiting troops on NATO’s front line in Poland to those dismantling IEDs to counter the Boko Haram threat in Nigeria and those on training exercises in Bosnia, as well as visiting the carrier the “Prince of Wales” and many other visits, including to our magnificent training establishments, most recently RAF Cranwell. On all sides of the House, we thank those men and women for such service and for working tirelessly to keep us safe.
As the Prime Minister reminded us today so movingly:
“Tomorrow marks 13 years since six young British soldiers were on patrol in Afghanistan when their vehicle was struck by an explosive, tragically killing them all. Sergeant Nigel Coupe was 33, Corporal Jake Hartley was 20, Private Anthony Frampton was 20, Private Daniel Wade was 20, Private Daniel Wilford was 21, and Private Christopher Kershaw was just 19, a teenager. Tomorrow also marks the 18th anniversary of the death of Benjamin Reddy, a 22 year-old serving with 42 Commando Royal Marines, who was killed in Helmand Province in 2007. These men fought and died for their country—our country. Across the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 642 individuals died fighting for Britain alongside our allies. Many more were wounded. We will never forget their bravery and their sacrifice. I know that the whole House will join with me in remembering them and all those who serve our country”.
As a number of your Lordships will know at first hand, serving in our Armed Forces is both challenging and rewarding for our serving personnel and their families. It provides immense pride, satisfaction and career prospects, and the chance to see the world. However, there are also undoubtedly challenges to service life. The recent harrowing inquiry into the death of Gunner Beck in 2021 highlighted a tragedy that should never have happened. Our thoughts remain with Gunner Beck’s loved ones at this difficult time. The Army has accepted the failings identified by the service inquiry and responded to the recommendations to improve service life across its culture, policies and practices. We have made it clear that there is no place for any abuse or unacceptable behaviours within the military. There have been other such awful reports, with consequent recommendations and actions. The Government are determined to do all we can to make defence a safe and welcoming career for all.
My Lords, I first place on record my admiration for and appreciation of our Armed Forces personnel. They are great. They make incredible sacrifices to keep us safe, as the Minister so eloquently and poignantly described, as do their families, and they deserve our unqualified gratitude and support.
His Majesty’s Opposition will adopt the same approach to the Bill as our colleagues in the other place. We want to be a critical friend. The Bill is well intended; we respect that it is a government manifesto commitment, and we shall support it. But for the sake of our Armed Forces, we owe it to them to ensure that the new position created by the Bill—an Armed Forces commissioner—does what it says on the tin, and that everyone is quite clear what the tin looks like. Our scrutiny will be diligent but, I hope, constructive. We have to be sure that the abolition of one structure and the creation of another creates neither gaps nor unintended consequences. I thank the Minister for his customary courtesy in engaging with me and my noble friend Lord Minto on the Bill.
I will start with a couple of process observations. Clauses 1 and 2 establish the job spec of the Armed Forces commissioner. As the Minister articulated, these are important functions: the general welfare of service personnel and their family members, and improving the public’s understanding of the welfare issues faced by service personnel and their families. Clause 1 also contains a wide suite of extensive powers. Clause 2 abolishes the role of the previous Service Complaints Ombudsman, so the new Armed Forces commissioner is taking on a very big job.
There needs to be greater parliamentary scrutiny of the initial appointment of the commissioner. Interestingly, the German model on which this is based is a parliamentary model, and that has not been totally replicated by the provisions of the Bill. I am not quite sure why that is, but perhaps the Minister can offer clarification in his wind-up.
My Lords, I say at the outset that I support this Bill and that I am very grateful to the Minister for the consultations that he has already held regarding the background to and purpose of the legislation. At this point, I have just a few concerns on which I should welcome his further clarification.
The first concern is with regard to an issue which he himself has raised: the extent to which the Bill’s proposals will lead to real change for our Armed Forces. Take accommodation as an example. I should be very surprised if a commissioner did not see the need to look into this aspect of service life. Numerous attitude surveys have made clear over a number of years how the poor standard of housing, particularly for single people, has affected morale and, in turn, retention. I have seen for myself some of the failings in this area and the desperate measures to which some local commanders have been driven.
Having said as much, it is patently clear that we do not need an Armed Forces commissioner to tell us about the problem. But despite us being all too aware of the issue, the problem remains. It is, of course, essentially a matter of funding. If a future commissioner were to produce a report on this matter and it had as little effect on the ground as we have seen so far, people might begin to wonder what the point was. If this legislation is to be successful, it is essential that the circle be closed—that identification leads to rectification. I know the Minister shares this view, but I wonder how the MoD intends to give effect to his good intentions. Perhaps he can enlighten us—if not today then as the Bill continues its passage through the House.
The second point is the method by which people will engage with the commissioner. We have had a Service Complaints Ombudsman for some time, but one of the key drivers of the Bill has been the ombudsman’s criticism of the complaints procedure. This is part substance and part perception. I do not believe that the chain of command is quite as protectionist as some claim. I accept that there might be a closing of the ranks in a few cases, but commanders are in general anxious to ensure the welfare of their people. There is, however, a sense that those same commanders sometimes act as judges in their own causes. This gives rise to a perception of unfairness, and it can make subordinates feel that complaining will damage their career prospects, as the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, observed.
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his introduction. I saw it as a very positive step that the Labour Party pledged in its 2024 general election manifesto to establish an independent Armed Forces commissioner to improve service life.
I declare an interest as the father of a soldier. While my own son is enjoying his Army career and gaining much from it, previous speeches in your Lordships’ House and in the other place have cited record lows in morale and a crisis in recruitment and retention as driving this need for a strong, independent voice to represent the needs of service personnel and their families. So I see it as a very positive step forward that the Bill will enable any personnel or their families to raise a service welfare matter with the proposed commissioner, wherever in the world that matter may have taken place.
Service personnel and their families give much to this nation, as has already been said in your Lordships’ House. Much of that is unseen and can impact on extended family members, who often give unstinting support to loved ones during deployments and at other times. Personnel and their families never know what is around the corner or what might be expected of them, as we know all too well at present.
One restriction of the present system with the independent Service Complaints Ombudsman is that families of personnel are currently unable to submit a complaint. I am therefore pleased to see, in the Explanatory Notes, that His Majesty’s Government are speaking of the commissioner as a new, direct and independent contact point for serving personnel and their families, all outside the chain of command, to raise issues that impact them. The new commissioner, rightly, needs to champion our Armed Forces and, for the first time, to be a champion for Armed Forces families.
I am interested to discover how the role of the commissioner will be different from that of the Service Complaints Ombudsman as far as families are concerned, especially where there may well be a culture of not wishing to report or to raise concerns as it might impact negatively on a career, as mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup.
My Lords, it is the honour of my life to be standing here this evening, and I still cannot believe that I am here. Speaking for the first time in your Lordships’ House is nerve-racking, but it has been made less so by the warm welcome and advice I have received from noble Lords and Baronesses across the House—I thank them all. I thank your Lordships for all the kindness and patience shown to me. I am particularly grateful for the generosity and support I have received from my supporters, my noble friends Lady Prosser and Lord Monks, and my mentor, my noble friend Lady Drake.
I also congratulate my noble friend Lord Barber on his excellent maiden speech last week, and thank him for his friendship and encouragement over many years. On the subject of thanks, I hope the staff of this House know that their fame goes before them. Their professionalism, helpfulness and sheer niceness are legendary, and my experience of them has exceeded all expectations. I thank all of them. It would be quite wrong to single out any individual, but my four year-old grandson would not forgive me if I did not mention “the nice man with the big golden necklace” who gave him a private tour of the Robing Room on the day of my introduction.
I am very grateful to be able to speak in this debate this evening. My father was a soldier. In his late teens, he was rescued by the British Army from a future with very limited opportunities in Dublin. He left school at 14, started out as an Army cook and ended up with the offer of a commission. His experience gave him a lifelong love for, and gratitude to, this country, sentiments he passed on to his six children, along with regular reminders to stay true to our roots, always work hard, respect the flag—and drink Guinness. Other drinks are available, but your Lordships, I hope, get the general idea.
My Lords, it is such a great honour and privilege to follow my noble friend Lady Carberry of Muswell Hill and to be the first person in this Chamber to compliment her on her excellent maiden speech, which displayed such knowledge, based, as we know, on personal experience. As she herself has just told the House, she has had a long career in the trade union movement. She first became a teacher and was active in the NUT, and then she joined the TUC education department in 1978. Some 10 years later, she was appointed the first head of its equal rights department. In 2003, she was appointed to the post of assistant general secretary of the TUC and stayed in the TUC until she formally retired 10 years ago.
In her time as assistant general secretary, she served with distinction under the general secretaryships of my noble friend Lord Barber, who is, I am glad to say, in his place, and my noble friend Lady O’Grady. Of course, she served in the TUC at the same time as my noble friend Lord Monks. She was too modest in her speech to tell the House about the range of other appointments she has held. She was a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission. She is a commissioner on the Low Pay Commission, a board member of Transport for London, a trustee of the People’s History Museum, a director of Trade Union Fund Managers, an alternate member of the Takeover Panel and an honorary fellow of St Hugh’s College Oxford.
My noble friend Lady Carberry has long been a model for, and advocate of, positive trade unionism that adds value to the person, the organisation and the country. She has, over the years, earned respect across the trade union movement, with employers and with Ministers of whatever kind, Labour and Conservative. She is a great believer in partnership and, I am sure, she will bring those values to bear to the business of this House for many years to come.
I am speaking in support of the Bill, but I do so with some trepidation. I am conscious of the fact that many of those taking part in the debate have had enormous experience of the Armed Forces, including those who served in office, whereas I myself have had none. It is true that my dad was an RAF pilot; he got his wings just before the war ended. His older brother, my uncle Michael, was a fighter pilot who was killed just after D-Day. His father, my grandfather—the original Viscount Stansgate—served in the Second World War as an air commodore and saw active service in his 60s. Before that, he served in the First World War, before the RAF was even founded, flying missions in various theatres. By comparison, I come to this subject completely afresh, although I hope to make a brief and worthwhile contribution.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate. I offer my congratulations to Emily and James, and I look forward very much to the engagement party next month—it will be fun. Equally, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Carberry of Muswell Hill, on her excellent maiden speech. I have to say that I was given exactly the same advice about drinking Guinness when I joined the Army—other drinks are available, and we will hear from the noble Lord, Lord Beamish, in due course.
I start by declaring my interest as a humble reservist and head of the Army Reserve—I have been a proud reservist now for some 37 years now. Indeed, my early career was under the then Group Captain Stirrup at RAF Marham, filling holes in his runways. He is not here to hear that, but I certainly remember him, though he will not remember me.
I shall make three brief points, which I will expand on later. The first is that while the service complaints system has had a troubled birth, it has evolved into a pretty good system. As we lift and shift it into this new Bill, I hope that we resist tinkering with it and, perhaps, moving two steps backwards. Let us be very careful about that.
Secondly, I really welcome the aspects relating to the family. I am a firm believer that we recruit the soldier but we retain the family. I am slightly concerned that we raise expectations as to what the commissioner will be able to deliver. I do not want to overpromise and then underdeliver; at the end of the day, it is about money, and I fear not that we may lead people down the garden path but that, as the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, says, we do not have the money to correct the problems.
My third point is simply around a technical amendment when it comes to the application of the Bill to Gibraltar, or not. We have made that mistake in the past with a previous Armed Forces Bill, and if I have time I will expand on that.
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Carberry, on her maiden speech and look forward to her being involved, perhaps even in this topic as it goes through Committee.
I welcome the Bill, as I think everyone here does, and that the Minister gave a clear outline of all its details. We could not have a better Minister taking this through the House today. What I like about it is that, crucially, it is on a statutory basis. That is key to making it clear to service men and women that they will have someone there with real authority to initiate investigations into general service welfare matters. That will be crucial in raising morale. As we have all said, and the Government have admitted, our Armed Forces are badly demoralised. The right person in that job could really make a difference. I hope that the right person will be appointed to it.
I appreciate that the Bill went through the House of Commons unamended, with cross-party support, and it will of course do so here. However, we might want to look at some amendments, but all will be in the context of making the Bill better and stronger. It is a particularly important time to be debating this Bill given the pledge that the Prime Minister has made to send our troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement as a peacekeeping force.
Many in the military have followed in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers, and mothers these days too. My concern is that the younger generation will not be so willing to join up when they see how their older relatives and retired military have been treated. That is why the link that the new commissioner has with veterans commissioners is crucial. It is vital that the job of veterans commissioner is also put on a statutory basis. In Northern Ireland, we lost an excellent veterans commissioner, Danny Kinahan, recently, because he found the lack of independence in his role not just frustrating but preventing help and support being given to veterans. The role is part-time, for two days a week, though Mr Kinahan spent far more time than that on the job. However, because of how the Office of the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner is set up, it is not on a statutory footing and the commissioner does not have the independence to do the job without constant interference from the Northern Ireland Office. The two staff members report to the Northern Ireland Office, and not to the commissioner, which puts the staff in a difficult situation—wanting to co-operate with the commissioner, wanting to help to do something for veterans, but the Northern Ireland Office for other reasons wanting to stop it. The structural limitations imposed by the NIO have transformed the role of the commissioner into a figurehead.
My Lords, there can be no doubt that this is a very necessary measure. The Service Complaints Ombudsman, which has limited powers, has called for an effective and independent process, as have others.
The level of morale goes to the heart of the success of all the activities of the Armed Forces. There has tended to be a tradition of families joining up: my uncles, my brother and, more recently, two of my nephews served in the Army. There has also been a tradition of friends encouraging one another to embrace a career in the services. However, that becomes to some degree dependent on the overall quality of the experience of the Armed Forces by those serving today.
The noble Baroness, Lady Carberry, in her excellent maiden speech, focused on the low morale levels among those serving today. We know that morale has decreased for a third year in a row, with low morale reported as running at 58%, up from 42% in 2021.
On general welfare issues—I thank the Library for its help in this matter—we know that housing, maintenance, catering et cetera have levels of satisfaction lower than 30%. That would not be accepted in the private sector and it should not be accepted for those who serve in our Armed Forces.
Regrettably, we have to place those statistics within the wider context of satisfaction with processes dealing with conduct complaints and the appalling reality of some of the reports of criminality, particularly physical and sexual abuse. The suicides, departures from service, and the traumatised and ruined lives which are the product of bullying and harassment of all kinds, are all part of this picture. As the Government have observed, there is a very clear correlation between these matters and difficulties in recruiting and retaining personnel.
The functions of this commission are limited. The general function of promoting the welfare of persons subject to service law and improving the public’s understanding of these matters could result in an enhanced experience for serving personnel. Thematic examination of matter such as the incidence of violence and harassment, the circumstances that enable such behaviour, the adequacy of the protections currently provided, the nature of equipment provided to officers and the suitability of housing can be very helpful.
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The Government also acknowledge the current crisis in recruitment, retention and morale in our Armed Forces, at a time of increasing global instability and heightened tensions. Only 40% of our forces personnel report being satisfied with service life and 62% report the impact on families and on personal life as the leading factor influencing their decision to leave. That is why the Government are determined to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve, and why it matters that this Bill represents the first time that the families of service personnel will have a mechanism by which they can raise issues about how their life as a relative of a member of the Armed Forces impacts their welfare.
Looking at the continuous attitude surveys, we see that this is where the crisis we face in recruitment and retention is. It is for this reason that we have chosen not to include veterans within the scope of the commissioner. Veterans face a very different set of issues and require specific support, whereas the commissioner is being established to have a laser-sharp focus on the welfare of serving personnel and their families.
The Bill before the House marks a major shift in the approach to our serving personnel. It establishes, for the first time, a genuinely independent champion to hear first-hand from our Armed Forces, including our Reserve Forces, and their families. Through the commissioner’s investigative powers and their ability to report to Parliament, they will shine a light on the welfare issues that most impact our service personnel and their families and, crucially, what the MoD needs to do to address these. As is right in a democracy, elected Ministers ultimately must make the decisions, but the commissioner will make it harder for them to claim ignorance and avoid scrutiny. The commissioner will be a strong independent voice, holding both this and future Governments to account and, we believe, driving meaningful change across defence.
The Bill was inspired by the long-established and successful German parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, who has been championing and providing a voice to Germany’s armed forces for almost 70 years. I pay tribute to her as a brilliant example of how to champion armed forces personnel through her work, including investigations, defence site visits and her reports and recommendations laid before the German Bundestag. Our proposed Armed Forces commissioner, like the German commissioner, will have the power to consider the full breadth of general welfare issues that may impact service life.
I know from my discussions with several noble Lords that there is an appetite to understand the types of issues that the commissioner may investigate. The definition in the Bill of “general service welfare matters” is deliberately broad, to allow the commissioner to gather evidence and make an independent decision on the issues that are most important to our service personnel and their families. By way of illustrative examples, we anticipate that general welfare matters should include issues such as service accommodation, mental health, education, unacceptable behaviour, provision of services, and the adequacy of personal kit. Conversely, issues such as the overall defence budget or strategic operational and commercial decisions would not be considered to fall within the commissioner’s remit. I also reassure noble Lords that our Reserve Forces will have the same access as our Regular Forces to the commissioner and will be able to raise any welfare issues connected to service life, both at home and when deployed.
As several noble Lords noted when we met last week, the Bill also contains some exclusions which prevent the commissioner investigating certain matters. As well as a power for the Secretary of State to limit investigations on the basis of national security and personal safety, it is also important that the commissioner does not cut across ongoing processes connected to specific cases, such as criminal proceedings and service inquiries, so as not to influence or undermine the outcome. Naturally, individual cases or inquiry topics can be indicative of wider problems the commissioner may wish to look into for thematic reports. For example, the commissioner would need to avoid investigating a specific case of sexual harassment while criminal investigations or a service inquiry were ongoing. However, that would not preclude them from investigating wider patterns of inappropriate sexual behaviour across the service.
The Bill also provides the commissioner with powers to access personnel information and defence sites, reaching thousands of our Armed Forces wherever they are serving. This will allow them to hear directly from service personnel and family members. To facilitate their investigations, they will have the power to demand access to information and service premises and, in the UK, to make visits unannounced, ensuring that the commissioner gains first-hand insight into the realities of service life.
We have given careful consideration to how the commissioner’s role will interact with the often very sensitive issues defence covers. National security is of paramount importance, and we have endeavoured to take a balanced approach. I refer to the ability of the Secretary of State to restrict the commissioner’s access to sites when there is a valid national security or safety reason, and their ability to redact reports on national security grounds. Our officials continue to work closely with partners across government to ensure that the commissioner’s ability to access sites without notice is appropriately balanced with security considerations.
The Bill provides for the commissioner to absorb the existing powers of the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces, safeguarding the established independent oversight of the service complaints system. I take this opportunity to thank Mariette Hughes, the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces, for the outstanding work she and her team have done to increase the efficiency and strengthen the independence, impartiality and integrity of the service complaints system.
In Committee in the other place, Mariette Hughes explained that her remit is too narrow and does not allow her to explore the root causes behind the complaints she oversees. The new powers of the commissioner will do just that, situating the Service Complaints Ombudsman system in a wider landscape of service welfare, and providing that coherent, independent view of those issues facing our serving personnel and their families. An implementation team has been established to ensure a smooth transition of any live complaints from the existing ombudsman to the commissioner’s office and to enable an effective set-up of the office and a full public appointments process.
The Bill also provides the commissioner with powers to report to Parliament. These reports will shine a light on issues facing personnel and their families and make recommendations to Parliament. They will be able to take on individual concerns from service personnel and their families, and build on these to launch wide-ranging thematic investigations.
While we do not wish to be too prescriptive, we anticipate that the commissioner will produce two different types of report. The first, an annual report, will cover the breadth of the commissioner’s functions. This would include the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of the service complaints system, the commissioner’s functions exercised in that year, and any further matters that the commissioner deems appropriate. The second will be in-depth reports, including recommendations, following the commissioner’s investigations into thematic general service welfare matters. These reports must be laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State within 30 sitting days of receiving them.
Ensuring that this post is truly independent is of the utmost importance, not only to build the trust and confidence of the Armed Forces but ultimately to guarantee its success. As such, there are several safeguards in place within the Bill.
Notwithstanding the important national security and safety measures I have already covered, the new powers in the Bill have been created to ensure that the commissioner can work and conduct these inquiries separately from government. These include measures giving them discretion over the matters they investigate; their ability to access information and enter defence sites, without notice in some circumstances; an obligation on the Secretary of State to co-operate with the commissioner; and the ability to report their findings to Parliament. Any redactions to reports will be limited to issues infringing on national security and personal safety. This takes us back to the purpose of the Bill: to establish a powerful independent voice to hold this Government and any future Governments to account, to ensure we can effect real change for our serving personnel and to fix the recruitment and retention crisis facing us today.
The Government are taking this landmark step of establishing a truly independent Armed Forces commissioner precisely because we must renew the nation’s contract with those who serve. The Armed Forces commissioner is a major step in commencing that important work. We owe our serving personnel and their families a commissioner with a single mission: to improve service life.
I look forward to what I know will be a rigorous and constructive debate in Committee and on Report, which many in both Houses and outside will follow. I am also particularly looking forward to the maiden speech of my noble friend Lady Carberry. I am very grateful to noble Lords across the House for their ongoing support and interest in the Bill. I beg to move.
As the Minister said, the commissioner is very free standing and deliberately independent, as far as possible, of the Ministry of Defence. For these reasons, the Defence Select Committee in the other place should offer an advisory opinion to the Secretary of State for Defence on the suitability of the candidate prior to any formal appointment.
The Bill makes explicitly clear that the individual will be neither from the Armed Forces nor a civil servant, so two obvious areas of expertise are excluded. That is fine in principle, but there needs to be total transparency about the chosen candidate, their qualifications to do the job, their relevant experience and of course their security suitability. Similarly, the commissioner’s accountability to Parliament needs to be more explicit, but that is something we can explore further as the Bill proceeds.
One broad but important issue that I have identified as emerging from the Bill, which I have shared with the Minister, is quite simply the proper balance of power between the Secretary of State for Defence and the commissioner. While the commissioner must be independent, the MoD is one of the most sensitive departments in government, and proper and responsible regard must be had to the delicate security issues surrounding defence premises, widely defined under the Bill. These could include nuclear facilities, Porton Down or premises that are the subject of operational activity.
I should like to see the commissioner’s deference to the Secretary of State on issues of security and safety more fully spelled out. There is recognition of this but, for example, if I understand the Bill correctly, if the commissioner proposes to exercise these powerful provisions for entry to premises, notice must be given to the Secretary of State within a period determined by the commissioner, and if the premises are in the United Kingdom, the commissioner is not required to give any notice at all if the commissioner considers that it would defeat the object of exercising the power. While the Bill quite rightly says that the Secretary of State can prevent or restrict the exercise of that power on grounds of national security or safety, that is a little challenging when they may not have received any notice from the commissioner that entry to premises is happening.
Would it not be more sensible to turn this around and to require the commissioner to give a minimum notice period of seven days to the Secretary of State of intended access to premises, unless the commissioner considers that there are extraordinary issues of potential loss of evidence or usage of currently unsafe premises, when the notice requirement would be suspended? In the latter case, the commissioner should be required to give the Secretary of State an explanation in writing for proceeding without notice. The advantage of that approach is that it would minimise compromise of national security and safety and avoid potential direct confrontation between the commissioner and the chain of command. The Secretary of State would at least have knowledge of any intended access.
The Bill will achieve an amalgam of what the Service Complaints Ombudsman used to do. I too pay tribute to Mariette Hughes and thank her for her unstinting hard work. That is a big block of work that will now land with the new commissioner, in addition to the new duties of general service welfare, as previously described.
There needs to be a clear separation of what the Armed Forces commissioner is reporting on in his annual report. There are two separate sets of distinct responsibilities here; we need to achieve clarity as to how they are being addressed under the new arrangements. That leads on to a question about resource. I am sure the Minister will be able to reassure the House that proper thought has given regard to that. However, from looking at the ombudsman’s annual report for 2023, we see that the current workload is hefty. We are talking about a significant volume of work falling on this new commissioner.
I will move on to the issue of drafting. I am smiling as I see former chair of the Constitution Committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Drake, is in her place. I became aware under her wise stewardship, as a member of that committee, just how important the drafting of legislation is, and how we should not inhibit those who have a responsibility—such as the noble Baroness’s former committee—from pointing out where they think there are issues.
This legislation achieves effect by changing another Act. That means it is quite difficult to get the whole picture from looking at the Bill; you have to do a bit of detective work behind the scenes. We have to live with that and I realise why that has been adopted as a modus operandi, but there is reliance on secondary legislation. I have shared with the Minister that that is quite extensive. As he is aware, there are various provisions in the Bill that provide for subordinate legislation, such as new Section 365AA(2)(b) and (5), and new Section 340IA(4)(e) and (8).
I hope the Minister, with his Bill team, can look at this and seriously consider whether we can put more information in the Bill. For example, the functions of the commissioner are the functions, so why can we not just define them and leave it at that? The Bill seeks to specify what the Armed Forces commissioner cannot investigate. Fine; if that is it, that is it. Equally, the Bill seeks to specify “family members”. Surely the Bill can be much clearer about who they are. I would have thought immediate family members within the circle—perhaps those residing with Armed Forces personnel—would likely be included, and I do not think it is meant to be a wider family connection, but I would not have thought it was beyond the skill of drafting to try to be more explicit about that.
The noble Lord is well placed to set a good example in drafting. He is a model Minister in every respect, and I know he will not disappoint me on this front either. I look forward to hearing his thoughts on whether we can make a better fist of trying to make the Bill a little more explicit.
In conclusion, we cannot anticipate what issues of general welfare may arise that the commissioner will feel obliged to investigate, but the tragic case of Jaysley Beck, to which the Minister referred, and her death, so recently reported on by the coroner, was deeply troubling. Our thoughts and sympathies are with her family. I am aware that far-reaching changes have been made in the MoD since Jaysley’s death in December 2021. The chain of command no longer investigates complaints, there is zero tolerance of unacceptable sexual behaviours —an instructor found to have engaged in such behaviour will be immediately dismissed—and where criminal activity has taken place there is now the Defence Serious Crime Unit and a victim support unit. However, Jaysley’s case demonstrated that she did not feel able to complain in the first place through fear of what that would mean for her career.
No matter how effective other processes and procedures are, the only way to address that fundamental fear is to have some type of anonymous whistleblower system. If the Minister is sympathetic to that, that function could sit well in the new Armed Forces commissioner’s office. I do not know whether we need statute law to establish it; it may be within the executive authority of the Secretary of State for Defence to do it now. I offer the proposal as a serious suggestion, and I welcome the Minister’s comments in his winding-up speech. Like him, I also look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Carberry. Finally, I look forward to the debate on this Bill. These Benches wish it well, and I look forward to the Minister’s response.
These are good reasons for introducing a system that has a much greater degree of independence, but people will need to be convinced that the degree of independence is sufficient to protect them from what they might see as the risks of complaining. I know that some have suggested that the commissioner’s independence would be compromised from the outset, since he or she would be appointed by, dismissible by and report to the Secretary of State. I do not share that view, but I should be grateful if the Minister could say what thought is being given to the way complainants will gain entry to the system. In the other place, the Minister responding for the Government said that it would be for the commissioner to decide how people access them. That seems rather vague. Surely some consideration has been given to an issue that will be central to the success of the proposed arrangements.
My final point is on the potentially vexed issue of access. As we have heard, the Bill gives the commissioner power to view premises, observe activities, inspect and copy documents, inspect equipment, take measurements and photographs, and so on. These are very wide-ranging powers. The Bill goes on to say that, in exercising them, the commissioner should give notice to the Secretary of State, but only within such a period as the commissioner deems reasonable and not if they consider that the giving of such notice would defeat the purpose of the investigation. As the Minister noted, the Bill does indeed say:
“The Secretary of State may prevent or restrict the Commissioner’s exercise”
of their powers
“in the interests of national security”,
but the Secretary of State will not always have the necessary details—not in time, at any rate—to exercise such a veto effectively. Within the military, many premises and documents are, and much equipment is, highly classified, and access to them is very limited, even among currently serving personnel. It is inconceivable that a commissioner should be able to override such restrictions.
When I was a station commander, a very long time ago, the Secretary of State would not have had a clue which parts of my command were sensitive and which were not. What would have happened had a commissioner descended on me at short notice and then demanded access to such an area? As proposed, I would have had no power to deny them. I realise that this will not be an issue in very many cases—including the example of accommodation that I cited earlier—but thematic issues may well be raised to the commissioner that concern working environments, and here security may well become a serious concern.
I understand the need to prevent people using security as a shield against investigation. On the other hand, security is one of the fundamental principles of war, and we neglect it at our peril. Some might argue that we could leave this up to the good sense of the commissioner. I do not suggest for one moment that the commissioner would lack good sense, but I simply cannot accept that such an issue can be left to chance. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, that the Bill itself needs to address this more effectively.
Let me stress that I make these comments with the intent of improving, rather than undermining, the very welcome Bill, which has my strong support, and I know that the Minister will view them in that light. I look forward to working with him on these issues as the legislation goes forward.
What will be key is that the Bill results in a culture change, whereby reporting or raising concerns becomes recognised as a positive and constructive step, essential to the continuous improvement of the service and the continuous improvement of the welfare and well-being of personnel. As the Royal British Legion has said:
“Absolute clarity is required from the outset of this new role, so that the remit is fully understood by Armed Forces personnel and their families, and expectations are set at the correct level”.
I welcome that the Minister has already spoken about independence, and I very much align with the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, on that independent role. I will also be looking, in the person specification for this new role, for someone who has good experience and is well-qualified in handling disputes and working around mediation. The commissioner must be resourced sufficiently to be reactive and responsive. The commissioner also needs to work with compassion; it is from compassion that things will change on the ground. That will involve the commissioner working alongside a number of others, including not only those within the chain of command but welfare groups and chaplains.
I will offer a brief comment on the invaluable work of Armed Forces chaplains, who are embedded with their flock on deployment and often live alongside them, perhaps with their families on the naval base, at the Army camp or at the Air Force station. A week last Monday, I had the immense privilege of spending the third anniversary of the terrible invasion of Ukraine with the chaplain of the Irish Guards, alongside Australian and Ukrainian chaplains, for a service with a significant number of Ukrainians, who were training in deepest Norfolk on a five-week course to prepare them to go back to Ukraine. It was one of the most poignant and moving services that I have attended: Ukrainians and their allies together remembering the immense sacrifices that have already been made.
This is the bread-and-butter stuff of Armed Forces chaplains. They accompany an officer who has bad news for a family. They listen to a young recruit working out if this career is for them. They quietly let the commanding officer know that the person she is about to see has something going on in their private life. They sit consoling personnel who have just lost a comrade and need to go back on patrol. They anoint the injured and pray for the dead. They ensure that families have someone to turn to when the clay beneath their feet begins to wobble. On this Ash Wednesday, Christian chaplains will be marking the beginning of Lent. I hope that the Minister agrees with me that the work of chaplains, of all faiths, is a crucial investment in the well-being of His Majesty’s Armed Forces and their families.
I have three questions. First, how does he expect the proposed commissioner to work with chaplains as part of their brief? Secondly, how does he expect the proposed commissioner to align their work with the UK Armed Forces Families Strategy 2022 to 2032? Finally, as the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, said, the Bill does not give an exact definition of family members, so what does the Minister think about that? For example, might it be appropriate to include the bereaved siblings of service members? Overall, though, I support and thank the Minister for bringing forward the Bill.
My Army parents would have warmly welcomed this new Armed Forces commissioner, and so do I. I was a military child in another era. I lived with the rewards and drawbacks of life in a service family, but it is not so different today. Armed services families deal with unique stresses: postings, deployments, separations, and disrupted children’s education. I myself went to 10 schools. In some ways, it is worse now: at least we did not have to put up with substandard housing. This Bill will give personnel and their families a powerful champion who can respond to concerns, investigate systemic problems and make recommendations that will lead to action.
I spent my working life in the trade union movement. I saw the unsung, day-to-day co-operation between union officers and employers to make workplaces fairer and more productive. This unglamourous work improves working conditions, heads off problems, solves problems as they arise and gives union members independent representation. These advantages are not open to Armed Forces personnel. That is why I am so keen to see serving men and women have an independent authority with real power who can look after their interests and speak up for them.
My noble friend the Minister talked about the crisis in morale, recruitment and retention. It is indeed alarming that only four in 10 regular personnel are satisfied with their service life. In most years over the last quarter of a century, more people left than joined the regular forces. As my noble friend has reminded us, the main reason people leave the forces is the impact on family and personal life. The commissioner’s work can help make service life more attractive, but the commissioner alone cannot carry the full weight of personnel challenges. For example, I would suggest that we do not need any more reports or inquiries telling us that servicewomen are not getting the basic protections they deserve—to put it mildly. I welcome the Minister’s remarks about this in his introduction, and the comments on the same subject from the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie.
Our forces are under-capacity. Our country is vulnerable, and we cannot feel confident about our ability to respond effectively to threats. Modernisation and technology can mitigate reduced personnel numbers, but not entirely. These are matters for the strategic defence review and the Government’s broader defence strategy.
Seventy-seven years ago, the great trade union leader, wartime Minister and post-war Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, said this in the other place: “We must build up our own strength and our own Armed Forces so that we can play our full part in the defence of democracy.” Who would argue with that today? Bevin was speaking during the early Cold War, when western allies were establishing the architecture of international law and the world order that today looks increasingly fragile. I commend our Government’s response to rapidly increasing global uncertainty. The Armed Forces commissioner is one part of that response.
In any debate about our Armed Forces, I readily defer to the expertise and experience of noble Lords and Baronesses, and of noble and gallant Lords across this House who have served in the forces. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to them and thank them for their service to our country.
It has been a privilege to speak in this debate, and I look forward to many more opportunities to work with noble Lords and Baronesses from all Benches on many matters, and to contribute widely to the work of your Lordships’ House.
Before I come to the Bill, I must declare an interest. My noble friend the Minister, in introducing his speech, declared an interest, and I have an interest to declare that I would not have been able to declare even one week ago. I hope the House will understand when I say how happy I am that the interest I have to declare is that, on Saturday—four days ago—my daughter Emily announced her engagement to Group Captain James Doyle, who is a serving officer in the Royal Air Force. As the House will understand, I suddenly find myself with a real interest in this Bill, and I see it in a new light.
My noble friend has set out the nature of the Bill and some of the reasons for it. All Members will have been aware over the years of incidents and situations that have occurred in the Armed Forces that have given rise to grave concern and which have needed to be investigated. The proposed commissioner for the Armed Forces and their families is important, because it will provide an independent and impartial advocate to address concerns for their well-being, to ensure accountability and to improve the overall well-being of service members and their loved ones. I have compiled a list of seven reasons why I think the role is crucial.
First, it will help protect rights and well-being. Service members and their families, as others here know better than I, may face challenges related to pay, housing—mentioned by the noble and gallant Lord already—healthcare, mental health support or unfair treatment. Secondly, I hope it will provide confidential and impartial support, because it is possible that many military personnel fear retaliation for speaking up. The new, direct ways of contacting the commissioner will, I hope, provide a safe, confidential way to report grievances without fear of negative consequences. Thirdly, it should ensure fair treatment, because the commissioner will now have a statutory authority, under the Bill, to investigate cases of discrimination, harassment or mistreatment.
Fourthly, it will bridge the gap between the military and their families. Families of service members, as we have heard from the noble Baroness in her maiden speech, face unique challenges, such as frequent relocations and deployments, and that alone can be very disruptive. Fifthly, it will hold the leadership accountable. The commissioner will help ensure that military institutions uphold high standards of ethics, fairness and accountability.
Sixthly—I think this is a key component of the Bill—it is surely the case that, when service members and their families have access to and confidence in a fair resolution of their concerns, it reduces stress, increases morale, and leads to a more effective and committed military force, making it more likely to ensure that we retain the service personnel that we need and in which we have invested so much in training. Finally, it will enhance public trust in the military. I hope that it will reassure both the military community and the general public that their concerns are taken seriously and addressed properly.
Until I prepared for this debate, I had not fully realised the extent to which morale in the Armed Forces has declined and remained low. I am grateful for the House of Lords Library briefing, which Members will have seen. It draws explicit attention to the fact that
“concerns have been raised about various aspects of service life, including morale, pay and living conditions as well as the impact of cultural and behavioural issues”.
Of course, this is a manifesto Bill, and it is good to see that it has a degree of cross-party support. It passed through the other place in a bipartisan spirit, and I hope the same will be true today. It is not always the case with manifesto Bills, as we saw in this House but two days ago.
In the time I have left, I want to raise a number of questions that I think need to be addressed. Although my noble friend may say that some of them can be safely left to the secondary legislation, I hope he will be able to shed some light on some of them.
First, I understand that the commissioner will not be a serving member of the Armed Forces, and that is sensible, but would it not be an advantage if she or he has had military experience? Will the commissioner have available to her or him an advisory board of people with military experience, and preferably of a younger generation, who might be more in tune with the purpose and spirit of the Bill? I have heard it said that the military covenant is not worth the paper it is written on without the resources to make it a reality. Can my noble friend the Minister reassure the House that, were the allocated resources to run out, there is a government commitment to increase the commissioner’s budget in the light of proven need?
Next, what exactly will the definition of families be? Apart from those who are married—or, if I may say so, engaged—to serving Armed Forces personnel, will that include those in civil partnerships? Will it include, for example, for those who are unmarried or in informal relationships, the next of kin? Will it include parents? How will all the service personnel and their families be made aware of the new system, wherever they live in the world? Will families be able to contact the commissioner on behalf not only of a serving member of the Armed Forces but themselves? If so, that seems to me to be the biggest development that the Bill will bring about. Will the commissioner be able to consider complaints that have already been referred to the superseded ombudsman system? I think my noble friend indicated that that is probably the case.
The more I think about this Bill and the ideas and good intentions that lie behind it, the more I think that the key question is whether it will work and whether the moral compass of the Armed Forces will benefit by this change. Will the commissioner be able to convey the necessary authority to do the job? How is Parliament going to be able to know and ensure that progress is made? Does my noble friend agree that, if recruitment and retention rates can be shown to have improved, this might be a sign of success? Will the new system be embedded in the training of recruits, so that it is hardwired into the system, because it is also about building new levels of trust and, I suppose, esprit de corps?
My time is nearly up, so I will have to end here by saying this. I am not the only Member who is aware of the fact that this Bill has been brought in at a time when our Armed Forces are facing challenges that have not been faced for some time, and they will be deployed in areas and in ways that we have not seen for decades. I have always found the phrase “put in harm’s way” a rather quaint euphemism, but it is true that there is an awful lot of harm out there now. I very much hope that this Bill, if it achieves anything, can develop our Armed Forces as the effective military force that the country requires, and that we can play a part in improving morale and making our Armed Forces fit for the dangerous future that lies ahead.
What has not been described fully is that, while the ombudsman has an important role in the service complaints system, the majority of the work is done by the single services themselves—and an awful lot of work goes on. There are hundreds of complaints each year, and that takes an awful lot of staff time. I will speak predominantly about the Army, because it is the service I know, and it has had to recruit 22 extra posts in recent years just to deal with this work, and very few cases actually get to the ombudsman. I worked closely with one of the earlier ombudsmen, Nicola Williams, when I was Veterans Minister, and I know that we have made progress. However, we judge the success of the system through three tests: is it efficient, is it effective, and is it fair?
The Army has done a lot of work in the last two years. Is it efficient? On the target of 90% of service complaints being dealt with within 24 weeks, for years we were stagnating at around 44%. When the next results come out, we will be up to 70%, so progress is being made. However, I emphasise how much work this takes to deliver. Is it effective? Well, how do you judge effectiveness? While 45% of career management complaints have been upheld, 40% of bullying, harassment and discrimination complaints have been upheld— I will come back to that—and 54% of pay and pension complaints have been upheld. They are being upheld, so it looks like the system is becoming more effective.
I want to highlight the case of Major Milroy, an Army reservist who won an employment tribunal over differential pay compared with his regular counterparts and not being able to access a pension until 2015 when the rules changed in 2005. My concern is not the case itself, because the MoD is seeking to repeal it, but that over 200 reservists felt obliged to make a service complaint on the back of that because they were concerned that if they did not, they would be timed out. It goes to the heart of sometimes poor communication from the Ministry of Defence about what is required and what is not.
Finally, is the process fair? The number of appeals is down, which implies that there is greater fairness, but we still have concerns over bullying, harassment and discrimination. Data suggests that a higher proportion of complaints come from minority groups and women. Following the Wigston review in 2019, with 36 recommendations and, as the Minister highlighted, the tragic case of Gunner Beck in 2021, with the coroner’s report just two weeks ago, clearly much more work needs to be done.
One of the concerns, as the HCDC report in 2021 on women in the forces said, is a lack of trust in the process—89% of women did not feel that they could make a service complaint, because it would not be taken seriously. I am pleased that some progress has been made. This is a significant change. Now, complaints within the Army do not go through the chain of command and the commanding officer—often, people did not want to complain to their commanding officer—and 80% of them go to the Army service complaints secretariat. That is a much better process, where people do not feel constrained by their chain of command. However, as ever, there is an unintended consequence—speedy resolution is now not as easy as it was, and in some cases that is exactly what people want. Also, the number of complaints is up, but partly because we have the My Complaint app and better publicity. That complaints are going up is not necessarily because the situation is worse but because people understand the system and are using it, so that is probably a good thing.
I am running out of time. Like the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, I want to say a word about accommodation. We know that accommodation is poor. We are prioritising service accommodation over training estate or the Army Reserve, but I worry that we will now have lots of complaints about accommodation which we already know about. Unless we are prepared to commit the money to sort it out, we will be raising expectations. It may be a radical thought, but the Bill’s provisions are due to come in in 2026 and the increase in defence spending in 2027. I do wonder whether we should delay for a year to make sure that we can meet expectations.
I know that the Minister understands Northern Ireland very well and knows that a very large number of veterans live there. Despite the Belfast agreement and the changes that have come about, many of them still live in fear. We also should remember the various soldiers who have been killed at different times. Around 1,441 British military personnel died during the deployment in Northern Ireland. In one year alone, 1972, 130 British soldiers died. We must never forget their sacrifice to keep people safe in Northern Ireland.
The previous Government abolished the veterans’ support office, which helped to co-ordinate all the veteran support services in Northern Ireland, so I am afraid that a lot of veterans in Northern Ireland do not trust the MoD, having experienced decades of neglect and inertia in the provision of help. An independent body is essential, as the veterans welfare service and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs are now run by the MoD and are not independent.
Then we have section 75 of the Belfast agreement, which means that no one can be picked out above or before anyone else, so Northern Ireland veterans cannot be identified and are then, in effect, discriminated against compared with their former colleagues living in GB. A way has to be found of working around section 75 so that veterans can be identified, understood and supported properly.
I could talk quite a lot, but I will not, about the delays and problems within our health service in Northern Ireland, which affect veterans in acute need of physical and mental health support even more. Some of them have had to wait up to eight years for operations or critical care. I do not think that, across GB, their colleagues as veterans have to wait so long.
An inability to understand the difficulties arising from veterans in Northern Ireland not having suitable care means that we must look at this. Unless we have a veterans commissioner who can stand up with power and authority, we will never change that. Although this is going slightly wider than the details of this Bill, at Second Reading we can go wider, and this must be looked into.
Because the Government are going to repeal the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, we are moving back into a phase where we will see many more veterans, from incidents 30, 40 or 50 years ago, dragged through our courts. We saw the Clonoe decision recently—33 years on, some soldiers are likely, if the judge gets what he wants, to be prosecuted for something that they did on a dark night under huge pressure, doing what I think they were absolutely right to do, which was to shoot four people who had been out deliberately trying to kill civilians and police officers.
Those kinds of issues are why veterans are incensed about the recent legal judgment. They are incensed— I have to say it again—about the possible compensation payments to Gerry Adams. I hope the Minister will do his bit from the MoD side to ensure that that will never happen.
My message is this. While much in the Bill is good, please do not forget that, in looking at how we treat our military today, if we do not remember the service and dedication of those veterans who are now, in many cases, seemingly being abandoned, we will not get young people who feel that going into the armed services is worthwhile.
As Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, we agreed a process by which, if an officer received three complaints, this was treated as a management issue in addition to dealing with the complaints. Such management intervention can result in the identification of groups of officers who serving singly do not get into trouble, but who serving in a particular group fall into behaviour that is totally unacceptable. It can also identify health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, alcohol and substance abuse, which can result in behaviour that would not normally occur.
One thematic report on the use of force by the police in Northern Ireland resulted in a dramatic decrease in the incidence of force used. Among the contributing causal factors were inappropriate and unavailable equipment, and lack of management. The results, when the recommendations were implemented, were a dramatic decrease in the number of incidents of use of force, a decrease in the number of claims made against the police for assaults, a decrease in the number of claims made by officers for injuries on duty and a decrease in the level of sickness among officers. Thematic research can undoubtedly be very valuable in identifying issues which materially affect welfare.
I endorse the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, in relation to the requirement in subsection (3) of the new Section 340IB inserted by Clause 4 to notify the Secretary of State in advance of any occasion on which the commissioner proposes to enter Armed Force premises, subject to the limitations. Perception is enormously important, and I hope that the Minister will find a better way to take care of national security and protection of life issues in the Bill.
The exclusion of particular service complaints matters that were or are the subject of service inquiry, criminal investigation et cetera, very clearly limits the functions of the commissioner. The creation of this office may generate an expectation that the commissioner will be enabled to deal with individual service complaints. However, the commissioner will be at the periphery of the proceedings, able to adjudicate on whether a service complaint should have been admitted and to review a decision by the Defence Council that an appeal cannot be proceeded for various reasons. Once a matter has been determined by the Defence Council or its appointed panel, the commissioner will have only ombudsman powers to review the process by which the complaint was determined in terms of delay and maladministration and the ability to refer a matter back for further consideration. No further powers are accorded on the commissioner in the Bill than those held by the ombudsman.
The role will be particularly challenging given the complexity of the delivery of Armed Forces activities across the world. Flexibility and creativity in delivering and devising systems and protocols for the operation of the office will be absolutely necessary, as will the co-operation of those in command with whom the commissioner engages in the exercise of his or her functions. There is a vast range of issues, as noble Lords have said.
The limitations on the powers of the commissioner must be spelled out, or rejected attempts to raise issues with the new commissioner will be damaging to the reputation which the commission will have to build. There should be no space for assumptions about the ability of the commissioner to understand the realities of life in the armed services or for preconceptions that the commissioner will be naive or lack understanding of service law. There should be no hostility, and no unwritten policy to wine, dine and welcome the commissioner but give them little more, but rather genuine acceptance that the new system will operate for the benefit of all, and hence for the benefit of the Armed Forces and the security of the country.
The greatest tool for generating trust by the new commissioner will be the communications that are enabled. It will be difficult, and the commissioner will need adequate resourcing to be able to meet face-to-face with personnel, to explain what they can do and the limits. The processes must be publicised and limited, so that officers and members of the Armed Forces can examine the integrity and effectiveness of the new system and decide whether they will use it or, in the most difficult of circumstances, walk away from the service altogether. Above all, if the Government really want to make this work, it will be necessary to enhance the powers of the Armed Forces commissioner.