Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill [Lords]

These very important amendments were tabled by the Defence Committee. We shall not press them to ...

I am grateful to the Chairman of the Select Committee for the way in which he is setting out its ...

My hon. Friend raised that central question during the Defence Committee’s pre-appointment hearin...

I shall speak briefly to the amendments tabled by the Defence Committee and to amendment 23, whic...

In Committee, the delays for serving soldiers and those employed by the Ministry of Defence in ge...

In many respects that is the critical issue, and I hope the Defence Committee will take an active...

I begin by thanking the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) and the Defence Com...

My hon. Friend was a signatory to the 2003 report that followed the Deepcut barracks incidents, w...

What—praise myself? Surely not, so modest as I am! I wish to put on the record, however, my thank...

I pay tribute to the Defence Committee for its work, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith...

I thank the Minister for accepting what we said in Committee, and for responding to it so positiv...

I believe that if the Bill passes through all its remaining stages, of which there are not too ma...

Does the hon. Lady agree that what we are talking about this evening is a continuation of the goo...

Yes, I do. Both the hon. Member for North Durham and my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and Th...

The question of whether this is a fundamental threat to the chain of command is a central point. ...

This Bill—it has now been amended and we have accepted the amendments—changes the ombudsman’s rem...

Although we have heard a lot about complaints, may I put it on the record that the chain of comma...

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. I thought I had made it, but there is...

I reiterate what the Defence Committee said, which is that the amendments are extremely important...

For the avoidance of doubt, if the hon. Gentleman could just say the words that he seeks leave to...

I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

I beg to move amendment 1, page 6, line 28, after “may”, insert “, on an application to the Ombud...

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Government amendments 2 to 6

The amendments make the changes to the Bill agreed in Committee and ensure that they work correct...

Do I assume that if the Service Complaints Commissioner looks at a matter and says that there is ...

If somebody says that there has been undue delay, but the commissioner finds that there has not, ...

Without being too pedantic or too pompous at this point, there is an important procedural point h...

I think the hon. Gentleman misunderstands me. We could have played politics, but I absolutely was...

Amendment 22, which is in my name, seeks to define “undue delay”. I pay respect to the Minister, ...

I give the Minister 10 out of 10 for her brass neck, because these amendments were tabled subsequ...

I must say that I thought I had been rather gracious in defeat, so it was a little churlish of th...

To use the horrible expression that the hon. Lady used, we are on the same page. As of 26 January...

Absolutely. I hope that the hon. Lady is comforted by the fact that we are looking at whether the...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I thank the members of the Public ...

I call Mr Kevan Jones: Portland school, as opposed to Hartland school, but both rejoicing in thei...

We at Portland were always better at snowball fighting than Hartland, Mr Speaker.

This is a...

Just to back up what the hon. Gentleman is saying, it is the way Dr Atkins has carried out her du...

That is the change. I am glad to see dinosaurs still alive and kicking on the Conservative Back B...