My Lords, in moving this amendment, I should first say that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, contacted me this morning to say how sorry she was that other commitments made it impossible to be here, and how strongly she supports the amendment.
I particularly thank the Minister for his very courteous response on several occasions to my concerns in this area, and I thank his many officials for the helpful letters they have sent us. I would like the Minister’s reassurance that this correspondence will be made readily available to a wider audience than just me, and I hope that it has been, or can be put in the Library.
I also want to put on record my very real appreciation to a number of concerned organisations, including, of course, Child Soldiers International, which has impressed me by the responsible and well-researched approach it brings to giving substance to its generalised concerns.
When I tabled a very similar amendment in 2011, the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, on behalf of the Government, replied that it was unnecessary because the annual Armed Forces covenant report would take special account of the needs of those under 18 years of age. I may have misread it, but in the 114 pages of the 2015 covenant report, any mention of minors is conspicuous by its absence. Will the Minister now give a firm undertaking that in future editions of the covenant report, the three key points raised in my amendment will be fully covered? His response on this will obviously bear on how I decide to take the amendment forward.
Fewer than 20 countries still allow in law the direct recruitment of 16 year-olds by their Armed Forces. We in the United Kingdom are among them. We are the only major military power, the only country in Europe, and the only member of NATO to do this. Two-thirds of states worldwide now recruit only adults from the age of 18 into their Armed Forces, and this is becoming the global norm.
Among those to have challenged our existing system are that UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Commons Defence Committee, the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for the four jurisdictions of the UK
and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Major British children’s organisations and human rights groups have called on the Armed Forces to recruit adults only, as indeed have a significant number of MPs across the political spectrum, many faith groups and indeed, veterans. The public seem to agree with this. Answering an open question in a 2014 Ipsos MORI poll about what recruitment age should be, 77% of those who expressed a view said that it should be 18 or above; only 14% thought it should be 16.
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Overall, some 2000 16 and 17 year-olds per year are recruited by the armed services, of whom some 80% join the Army. Of course, 16 year-olds are minors. We have had an impressive cross-party record of international leadership in the international fora establishing the rights of children and the responsibility of Governments and others towards those in our armed services. We are rightly outspoken critics of the use and abuse of child soldiers in conflicts across the world. There are far too many horrifying and deeply disturbing examples of this. It is therefore essential that, if our criticisms are to carry weight, and are not to be dismissed as hypocrisy, we establish transparently the highest standards of care in the recruitment and deployment of our own youngsters.
This is particularly important when we recognise that many of the recruits come from our most socially deprived communities and that there is a heavy emphasis on recruiting for the infantry. The infantry inevitably has disproportionately high casualty and death rates. Sadly, it has been calculated that soldiers recruited at 16 who completed their training were twice as likely to be killed when serving in Afghanistan as those who enlisted at 18 or more. It would be most helpful if the Minister could say something about the MoD’s experience and consequential policy changes in the preparation of minors for active service.
It is sometimes said that the military environment provides young people with structure and a feeling of worth. I do not dismiss that argument and therefore I am not an absolutist in this sphere; I am simply concerned that we have the best possible procedures and conduct, and that we face the realities. I recall that, when I was—we still had that role then—the Minister responsible for the Royal Navy, I was tremendously impressed by some of the things that I saw. In particular, I was really quite moved by the Royal Marines and the work that they were doing, taking youngsters from very socially disadvantaged backgrounds and turning them into fine musicians; certainly, the Royal Marines Band produces excellent music of the highest standard. Perhaps this is not known by everybody when seeing the parades and the rest. If noble Lords have the opportunity to go and hear the band putting on a classical music orchestral concert, which it usually does at its own base, it is a very impressive experience indeed.
However, there is too much evidence that recruitment at this age can aggravate the effects of an adverse childhood, which is often typical of the youngest intakes. Young children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely than others to enlist before they turn 18. They are more likely to join the infantry, where
exposure to the trauma of warfare is greatest, and more likely to struggle when they leave the forces. For example—I think all of us will be worried about this —there is too much evidence in this group of heavy drinking, self-harm, other mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress, and, of course, homelessness.
Although the MoD disputes it—my correspondence with the Minister is relevant here—those concerned about this issue frequently raise their perception that minimum standards of educational provision still do not apply to Armed Forces trainees, since they are, in effect, exempt from the provisions of the Education and Skills Act, which mandates the new duty to participate in education until the age of 18. The Army’s 16-year-old recruits are enrolled into short, sub-GCSE courses in three subjects, as well as a public services apprenticeship, which consists of basic soldier training and is not primarily designed to support career progression outside the Army. The Army takes great pride in the range of apprenticeship courses it says it provides, but we have to scrutinise this very carefully to see whether it is keeping pace with what is happening outside.
The Department for Education’s recommended minimum standard of education for the entire 16 to 19 age group is the achievement of good passes in core GCSEs, which it seems is not always as available as it should be within the Army. Two in five of the youngest infantry recruits will have left the Army within four years—most of them in training. Having joined the Army straight from school and been offered only very basic qualifications in the Army, these early service leavers are left at a disadvantage when looking for another job or trying to re-enter education. This group is particularly prone to unemployment and mental health problems. Those who stay in the Army are less likely to be promoted through the ranks than soldiers who enlist as adults.
In enlisting minors, the Armed Forces require them to make a decision while still legally a child that binds them in adulthood, suspends certain fundamental rights and commits them to a minimum period of service up to two years longer than is required of adult recruits. It could be argued that the Army’s recruitment material for young people and their parents, which should be very full and objective, is inclined to sanitise military life, and it is argued that it underplays the legal obligations of enlistment. It is also argued, by those who are anxious, that three-quarters of junior entrants now have a reading age of 11 or less and that 7% have a reading age as low as five, which must surely call into question their ability fully to comprehend the enlistment obligations. It has come to my attention in recent months—I had not realised before—that recruiters are not required to meet with parents. A signature on a form sent by post is the only indication that parents understand and consent to their child’s enlistment. I am not sure that this is really satisfactory.
For the reasons I have outlined—there are a good deal more; because of our obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in the drafting of which the UK proudly played a leading part; and because of the imperative to put the well-being of the child at the centre of our concerns—we all in Parliament have unavoidable responsibilities for keeping policy in
this area under constant review. The amendment seeks to ensure that we can strengthen and regularise our scrutiny.