My Lords, people who choose to serve their country deserve to do so free from fear of abuse. The Defence Serious Crime Command has driven improvements to victim care and investigations since its establishment in December 2022. The Victim Witness Care Unit has delivered independent, exemplary care to victims of crime since launching in 2023. We have partnerships with several charities providing independent support, and we are further strengthening this with an independent legal advocacy pilot and improving access to medical support following an incident, so action continues.
I thank my noble friend the Minister for that very helpful reply. Are all complaints of sexual harassment and assault recorded? How are they monitored, and is the Minister aware of what percentage leads to disciplinary action or prosecution?
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her Question, which I think is of importance and interest to us all. As I said, various units have been set up to deal with this problem. The MoD publishes annual statistics for sexual offending within the service justice system, and the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces reports on complaints of sexual harassment. In 2024, there were 294 criminal investigations into sexual offences, including rape and sexual assault, compared to 251 in 2023. Additionally, 37 cases were transferred to the Home Office police. A further 10 cases were recategorised as non-sexual offences but remained within the service justice system and were handled by commanding officers. The Service Prosecuting Authority brought 61 charges for sexual offences in 2024 based on cases received that year. I hope that is helpful to my noble friend.
My Lords, the Army website for the Victim Support Pathway for sexual offences is, helpfully, very clear and, most of all, encouraging, making it plain that it is not the victim’s fault and setting out a route for her—it usually is a her—to get help. I apologise for asking for more data, but is there data yet by rank to show what percentage of the military workforce has undertaken training recommended on the Victim Support Pathway? The key advice about not being a bystander will work only if there is extensive training throughout the military.
I agree with the noble Baroness about the importance of training all ranks. Certainly, I know that the military take that extremely seriously. The establishment of the victim care unit is part of ensuring that victims are supported through the process. On whether the training has been identified according to rank, I will go back and see whether that has been done.
My Lords, does the Minister agree that part of supporting victims is showing clear and sustained condemnation for this type of behaviour, and ensuring that the military pursues these cases vigorously and rapidly and that we do not find delay in the process?
I know that there have been a number of documented cases of utterly unacceptable behaviour, some of which is criminal and deserves to be prosecuted. I know from speaking to senior officers, past and present, that they are determined to do something about the small number of people who undermine the culture of our Armed Forces. They are adamant in the pursuit of those who break those rules and act inappropriately. The Government support them in that, as did the previous Government. We support our senior officers and officers at all ranks in rooting out this totally unacceptable behaviour.
My Lords, this Question is specifically about sexual violence, but a lot of distress is caused by sexual harassment. Can the Minister assure the House that sexual harassment, which can cause great anxiety and difficulty to the victim involved, is taken very seriously too in the Armed Forces?
I can assure my noble friend of that. The Armed Forces go out of their way to encourage service personnel to report all examples of sexual harassment. They make it clear that sexual harassment or sexual intimidation below what we might consider to be the criminal threshold is unacceptable as well. They encourage self-reporting and keep statistics in respect of that. At all levels and at all ranks within the Armed Forces, they are seeking to root out unacceptable behaviour, whether it is so-called minor sexually inappropriate behaviour or more serious criminal activities.
My Lords, in response to my amendment to the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill, which would have enabled an independent direct route to the commissioner for whistleblowing complainers, the Government announced that they would undertake a whistleblowing in defence review. Can the Minister update the House on the progress of that review?
I thank again the noble Baroness for the whistleblower review amendment that she brought to the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill in liaison with the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer. That is being taken forward. The whistleblowing review is under way. We expect an interim report to be available in the very near future, with a full report available sometime in the spring next year. I assure the noble Baroness that it has not been forgotten; it has not been put on the shelf; it is something that we are actively pursuing.
My Lords, given that chaplains routinely provide partial support for victims of crime, including sexual offences, can the Minister outline what steps His Majesty’s Government are taking to ensure that Armed Forces chaplains receive specialist trauma-informed training so that they can support survivors of sexual violence? Is such training consistent across the services?