The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, however. It is not just the equipment and how we deploy things that has changed. The armed forces do not sit in a vacuum away from the rest of society, and that is one of the main issues for consideration. Things that were acceptable 20, 30 or 40 years ago for young people who joined the armed forces no longer are. When I was a Minister talking to senior military personnel, I heard that young people were far more questioning, although not in a disrespectful way, and more knowledgeable about their rights. They wanted to engage rather than take instructions. That is a challenge for the armed forces. We need to ensure that there are mechanisms in place for when things go wrong and, as I said in an intervention during the speech from the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Mrs Drummond), a safety valve to deal with complaints.
Armed Forces Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Beamish
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Thursday, 15 October 2015.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Armed Forces Bill.
About this proceeding contribution
Reference
600 c542 Session
2015-16Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamberSubjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2017-08-16 15:11:19 +0100
URI
http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-15/15101545000230
In Indexing
http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-15/15101545000230
In Solr
https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-15/15101545000230