Armed Forces Bill

The amendments deal with the minimum and maximum numbers of lay members required for a court martial. They respond to views in this House and in another place about the desirability of including minimum and maximum numbers of lay members in the Bill rather than in the rules. They also introduce a power to create in the rules made under the Bill a slip rule for the court martial. A slip rule is a power to respond to errors in sentencing and is analogous to a power that is applied in the Crown court. The amendments also define who may be a judge advocate.