Armed Forces, Army, Air Force and Naval Discipline Acts (Continuation) Order 2007

My Lords, I understand the concerns the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall, has raised. He may not know that the House of Lords group that met was determined by the usual channels. The timing and the organisation of that was not under the control of the Ministry of Defence. I recognise that his inability, therefore, to read the Fulton report, as those members were able to do, puts him in a difficult position. I will see what can be done to provide him with an opportunity to see the report under conditions of confidentiality. I note that his comments are based, as the noble and gallant Lord said, on the media. Therefore, perhaps I may answer some of those points directly. The Hall review, the second of the inquiry, is published, and is available in full on the Ministry of Defence website. I will write to the noble and gallant Lord and provide him with a copy. The Fulton report and the Hall review came to the clear conclusion that, although nothing was done which would justify, we believe, disciplinary action being taken, this was not a good day for the Royal Navy. A number of actions that took place and a number of things that were not done, which could have been done, mean that there are grounds for taking administrative action. That administrative action will be taken by the chain of command of the Royal Navy in the normal way. The noble and gallant Lord made a specific point on hazarding the ship. I cannot go into the detail for reasons of operational safety, but the ship was not hazarded as part of the circumstances of the operation. On the point about taking responsibility and errors of judgment, the Secretary of State has been absolutely clear that he takes full responsibility for what took place, both operationally and in the media handling of the event afterwards. He has made that very clear and apologised to the other place in very clear terms. People have not been exonerated. I do not accept the characterisation of that made in some aspects of the media today. However, I recognise that it is important for the noble and gallant Lord to have an opportunity to see these conclusions. Within the Ministry of Defence, we absolutely take on board the point that we do not want to see this series of events happen again. There are some very serious aspects from which we need to learn, which have been set out in the Fulton report. We are embarking on a programme of action, which we expect to be completed by the end of this year. We are quite happy for a group of noble Lords to review the level of progress against those actions and to assess whether they are satisfactory. On Question, Motion agreed to.