Armed Forces (Service Complaints Commissioner) Regulations 2007

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Armed Forces (Service Complaints Commissioner) Regulations 2007. The noble Baroness said: These regulations were laid before the House in October and are being made under powers in the Armed Forces Act 2006. As Members of the Committee will know, that Act represents the first complete overhaul of the service justice system in more than 50 years. As well as providing a single system of service law, it introduces a number of significant and important changes. Today’s debate is about one of those important changes; namely, the new system for dealing with complaints by individual service personnel who think themselves wronged in any matter relating to their service in the Armed Forces. Historically, service personnel have had few enforceable rights in relation to their conditions of service, and it is for that reason that there is a system that allows service personnel to submit complaints related to their service. The system is designed for the individual and there is, therefore, no provision for group complaints. The key features of the new service complaints procedure are that complaints will be resolved at one of three levels. At the highest level, the Defence Council, complaints may be dealt with by a service complaint panel, for which certain categories of complaint will include an independent person and there will be a Service Complaints Commissioner, which is also a new development. I shall say a little more about the features. The three levels at which a service complaint may be resolved are, first, the prescribed officer, who will usually be the commanding officer unless he is implicated in the complaint, in which case the complaint would be made to the CO’s immediate superior. The second level is the superior officer; and the third is the Defence Council, whose function in considering complaints has been routinely undertaken by the single service boards but will now include service complaint panels. When the commanding officer receives a complaint he has three options. First, if he lacks the power to deal with it, he may refer the complaint to the superior officer or to the Defence Council. Secondly, if he decides to deal with it and the complaint is well founded, he will decide what redress should be granted. Thirdly, he can reject the complaint. The superior officer has the same options as the commanding officer: to deal with the complaint, to refer it to the Defence Council or to reject it. It is important to note that if the complainant is not satisfied with the redress to be granted or if the complaint is rejected, he can have the complaint referred to the next highest level for consideration. Against that background, the regulations which we are debating will establish a number of improvements, including procedural changes, to ensure greater fairness and consistency across the services and to reduce the time taken to resolve complaints. They will also exclude some types of complaint, for example where there is an established alternative system to deal with complaints. Above all, the regulations introduce two elements of independence and transparency into the system. First, they establish independent members on panels which at the highest level will normally deal with complaints about bullying, harassment, discrimination and other types of inappropriate behaviour. Secondly, they bring in the appointment of a Service Complaints Commissioner. The Armed Forces (Redress of Individual Grievances) Regulations begin by excluding certain matters from the redress system. As I mentioned previously, this is where an alternative system exists. So, for example, complaints about pensions and compensation are excluded, as are judicial and legal decisions, because those are subject to judicial review and it would not be appropriate to allow lay interference in judicial procedures. Each service complaint considered by the single service boards, acting on behalf of the Defence Council, involves significant time and effort spent by senior staff in reaching decisions. That imposes a heavy administrative burden and risks causing delay. The Armed Forces Act 2006 therefore provides for the Defence Council to delegate cases to service complaint panels. It also provides that a panel must have at least two members, one of whom is at least of the rank of brigadier or equivalent, although it is our intention that panels will normally consist of two officers of at least that rank, normally from the same service as the complainant. Service complaint panels will operate with the full delegated powers of the Defence Council relevant to the case under consideration. The regulations ensure that complaints by or about senior officers will be dealt with by a panel that contains at least one officer of the same rank as or a higher rank than the officer concerned. The regulations will ensure that, in the interests of fairness, certain people are excluded from being members of service complaint panels. They include members of the Defence Council, the single service boards and chaplains of the three services, as well as any officer who may have been involved in any way with the complaint that is being considered. It will be the normal expectation that complaints reaching the highest level will be dealt with by service complaint panels. There will be exceptions, however, because the service boards will always retain some cases, including, for example, complaints about security vetting, a decision or action by a very senior officer of three or four-star rank and the termination of an officer’s service. The service boards may also decide to retain other cases where the normal expectation would be to delegate them to a panel. This is an important aspect of the system, since it allows the single service boards to exercise their stewardship of the services and to influence decisions that have an effect across the whole service. Examples of such cases may be a complaint about changes to specialist pay or an allowance, a challenge to a job evaluation outcome for a particular branch or trade, or a complaint about the policy of not allowing women to serve in submarines or the infantry. Decisions by panels, exercising powers on behalf of the Defence Council, will be final. An important new element, in line with the Act, is the introduction of an independent member to the service complaint panels dealing with complaints relating to: bullying, harassment or discrimination; dishonest, biased or other improper behaviour; allegations of failure in clinical care; allegations of the misuse of service police powers; and the rejection of a complaint following referral of an allegation by the Service Complaints Commissioner. The introduction for the first time of an independent element into the redress process is an important change. We believe that it will give service personnel much greater confidence in the system. This independent element also recognises the recommendations made by the Defence Select Committee and by Nicholas Blake QC in his Deepcut report. Both stressed the importance of demonstrating that bullying, harassment and other forms of inappropriate behaviour have no place in the Armed Forces, and underline the importance of dealing with these things effectively and openly. Independent panel members are being recruited using the normal public appointments process. We have stipulated that they cannot be members of the Regular or Reserve Forces, but that they should bring experience and expertise relevant to considering and deciding cases relating to bullying, harassment, discrimination and other types of inappropriate behaviour about which we are particularly concerned. I should add that at present an officer has the right to require a report on his complaint to be referred to the Queen if he is not satisfied with a decision at the Defence Council level. That right will still exist under the new system, except where any decision on a complaint is taken by a service complaint panel. Your Lordships will recall the recent announcement of the appointment of Dr Susan Atkins as the Service Complaints Commissioner. This is a statutory appointment made by the Defence Secretary, and Dr Atkins comes to the post having worked with the Equal Opportunities Commission and having set up and run the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The Defence Select Committee and Mr Blake recommended the appointment of a commissioner, and envisaged the role as being similar to that of an ombudsman. As Ministers said at the time, and I reiterate now, we welcome this further independent element in the service complaints process. However, we could not agree to the commissioner’s role including the ability to intervene in the consideration of complaints, to investigate complaints or to reopen cases. Those actions would have undermined the chain of command, which we have properly placed at the heart of ensuring the effective discipline and welfare of members of the Armed Forces. What we have provided, through the Act and this secondary legislation, is a commissioner with real powers to make a difference. The commissioner will provide an alternative point of contact for service personnel, their families and friends, and any other member of the public who wishes to make an allegation that a service person has suffered a wrong in their service. This will be particularly helpful to those who do not feel confident about approaching the chain of command directly. The Service Complaints Commissioner regulations provide that any communication received by the commissioner alleging that a member of the Armed Forces has been wronged through bullying, harassment, discrimination or any other form of improper behaviour may be referred to the chain of command for action. Such an allegation would normally go to the commanding officer of the individual alleged to have been wronged, but would go to another officer if the commanding officer were the subject of or implicated in the complaint. A referral from the commissioner places certain duties on the commanding officer. These include checking whether the person alleged to have been wronged wants to make a service complaint, whether that person knows how to go about it, and the time limits that apply. The commanding officer must also notify the commissioner of the individual’s decision on whether to make and go forward with a complaint; whether the complaint was excluded under the redress of individual grievances statutory instrument; or whether it was not allowed to proceed, for example for being outside the time limit for a service complaint. The commissioner must also be informed by the commanding officer if the complaint has been withdrawn by the complainant; if the complaint has been referred to a superior officer or the Defence Council; and of any decision in relation to the redress sought. The commissioner will provide the Defence Secretary with an annual report on the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness with which the complaints process has operated during the period. The report will also cover the exercise by the commissioner of the function of referring allegations and other factors that the commissioner or the Defence Secretary considers appropriate. These reports will, of course, be laid before Parliament. We believe that an annual report, written by an independent Service Complaints Commissioner and made available to Parliament and the public, will make a significant contribution to the overall effectiveness and transparency of the system. The changes that we are discussing today have the potential to affect every service person and we take very seriously the responsibility to ensure that our service personnel are briefed on changes of this kind. Consistent with that, significant effort will go into ensuring that all service personnel are made aware of the changes that the new system will bring. A new joint service publication about redress of individual grievances will be published shortly and made available electronically to all service personnel. A defence notice will be issued to publicise the changes further. In addition, leaflets will be published to provide service personnel with a clear explanation of their rights and how to use the complaints system. All three services are making arrangements for their personnel to be briefed in detail nearer to the time when the changes are introduced. I should like to make a final observation about the statutory instruments that we are considering today. The Government have given an undertaking that Ministers moving instruments subject to the affirmative procedure will tell the Committee whether they are satisfied that the legislation is compatible with the rights provided in the European Convention on Human Rights. I am pleased to confirm that the two statutory instruments before us today are compliant with the European convention. I look forward to hearing the Committee’s views on this important issue and I hope that it will be possible to make progress on this very shortly. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Armed Forces (Service Complaints Commissioner) Regulations 2007. 28th Report from the Statutory Instruments Committee, Session 2006-07.—(Baroness Taylor of Bolton.)