Armed Forces Bill

My Lords, this is clearly a probing amendment. It flies in the face of the norm that there is, in...

I just want to make one or two short points. It is interesting that while the noble and gallant L...

My Lords, as I indicated at Second Reading, I, too, am entirely sympathetic to the general feelin...

My Lords, I was not able to speak at Second Reading, and I would like to briefly reassure the nob...

My Lords, I share the concerns of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig. I am particularly conce...

My Lords, we recognise that there is an issue in this area, but, according to my understanding of...

My Lords, there is no limitation on serious criminal cases, and that is part of the criminal law....

I do not want to be tiresome but combat immunity, as I understand it, has never applied in the co...

Perhaps it could be used as a criminal law concept. Perhaps the lawyers would like to think about...

My Lords, this amendment would introduce a time bar on bringing prosecutions against members of t...

The noble Earl referred there to hoping that investigations would be brought to a speedy conclusi...

My Lords, I can confirm to the noble Lord, Lord Empey, that IHAT—as it is known—will be in place ...

The noble Earl seemed to say something fairly profound there about support for service personnel ...

I shall be happy to write to the noble Lord with further and better particulars on that issue. I ...

Following the precedent of other Bills, when the Minister writes to me could he copy in any the n...

I shall be glad to do so.

My Lords, first, I thank all those who have spoken in this short debate. I made it very clear tha...

Moved by

Earl Attlee

12: After Clause 14, insert the following new Clause—

“Ope...

My Lords, in the past, servicepeople living in barracks or the equivalent were charged for their ...

My Lords, I have had some experience recently in several officers’ messes of the Royal Navy, whic...

My Lords, before the Minister and the Opposition Front Bench reply, the noble Baroness made a ver...

My Lords, I did not intend to speak on this, but I will say a couple of words—not that I try to e...

My Lords, we all agree that having a healthy meal and good food inside us is important for increa...

My Lords, I welcome the initiative of my noble friend in reminding us that the health and well-be...

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed to this short debate. The thing t...

I will gladly look at what is available. On the face of it, I see no problem in releasing the con...

I thank the Minister for that undertaking. The noble Lord, Lord Touhig, tempted me to table a sui...

Moved by

Lord Judd

13: After Clause 14, insert the following new Clause—

“Enlis...

My Lords, in moving this amendment, I should first say that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, conta...

My Lords, I support the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Judd, and the noble Baroness, Lad...

My Lords, the amendment from my noble friend Lord Judd is clearly designed to cover the general i...

My Lords, I very much welcome the interest of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, in this issue, and his r...

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for his characteristically full and sensitive reply....

Moved by

Lord Thomas of Gresford

17: After Clause 14, insert the following new Clause...

My Lords, in 2006 I moved an amendment in these terms to the 2006 Bill with the support of my nob...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, for raising the issue of inqu...

My Lords, I had not intended to speak to this amendment; I ought to be better prepared. Down the ...

My Lords, there is one aspect of this amendment to which I think I should draw attention. It aris...

My Lords, there were specific provisions in the Coroners Act 2009 relating to investigations in S...

My Lords, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, talked about training fatalities. My view is tha...

My Lords, I have a certain sympathy with what the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, has said. Indeed, I th...

I am grateful for the partial support from the noble Lord. I have read the Army’s casualty proced...

In the Navy, the rules are not quite so direct, but you are given guidance to be sure that you do...

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, who drew my attention to a Scottish television repo...

We have gone down the route of the coronial system. As Plato said, only the dead see the end of w...

Just to give noble Lords an example of an incident that might have involved an inquest and lesson...

My Lords, I will be brief. This debate is very important and shows that there has been a degree o...

My Lords, I found this an extremely interesting debate and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, f...

My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s response to my amendment. I have a wicked question to ...

My noble friend is right that that is a question from left field because I do not think I can ans...

I do not really expect the Minister to give me a precise figure, but I am very grateful to him fo...

My Lords, those of us who were around in 2009 will recall the great controversy in the Coroners a...

Moved by

Earl Attlee

18: After Clause 14, insert the following new Clause—

“Gui...

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 19 and 20. This group of amendments explores when a re...

My Lords, on Amendment 18, which seeks clarity, we have nothing to add and look forward to the Mi...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for setting out the rationale for his Amendment 18. Ho...

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who contributed. The Minister gave me exactly the answ...

Moved by

Earl Attlee

20A: After Clause 14, insert the following new Clause—

“Ca...

My Lords, this is a short probing amendment to explore where the Government are on the issue of a...

My Lords, I am sure the noble Earl, Lord Howe, will correct me if I have this wrong when he sums ...

My Lords, I did touch on subsection (3), the purpose of which is to ensure that we do not prohibi...

I thank the noble Earl for that clarification. I rather suspected that that was what he was going...

My Lords, my worry is that, if the Government decide that, yes, we can have females serve in the ...

I understand what the noble Earl is trying to get at. Conversations I have had about this suggest...

My Lords, we know very well that women can be amazingly brave. We have always been willing in war...

My Lords, more than 20 years ago, as a parliamentary candidate in Richmond in west London, I addr...

My Lords, the amendment proposed by my noble friend would have the effect of excluding women from...

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate. I am not surprised...

My Lords, I endeavour to give my noble friend that absolute assurance. We are clear that physical...

My Lords, my position is that the solution outlined in my amendment is the right one. In other wo...

Moved by

Lord West of Spithead

21: After Clause 15, insert the following new Clause—<...

My Lords, mesothelioma is a most dreadful disease, as we all know—and very difficult to pronounce...

My Lords, without wishing to preclude further debate on this amendment, it may be for the benefit...

My Lords, I support the amendment moved by the noble and gallant Lord today in Committee. I apolo...

My Lords, I support the amendments and welcome the statement from the Minister. It was sobering w...

My Lords, I, too, welcome the Government’s announcement proposing compensation for service person...

My Lords, I add my congratulation to those of other noble Lords to everyone who campaigned for th...

My Lords, I do not intend to repeat the very important questions put by other noble Lords. I just...

My Lords, I am grateful for the progress that has been made by the Government in expanding the sc...

Perhaps I can help the noble Earl because his noble friend Lord Prior of Brampton has been extrao...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord West of Spithead, for raising this critical issue. Mesothe...

The Minister mentioned necessary legislative changes. Is it the Government’s intention to use the...

My Lords, my understanding is that this can be done by secondary legislation.

My Lords, I thank all those who have spoken. It shows the concern that we all have about this dre...

Moved by

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts

22A: After Clause 17, insert the following ne...

My Lords, I sense that the horse is heading for the stable, and at an increasing rate, so I will ...

My Lords, I welcome the probing amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson. He is absolutely rig...

The Minister will recall that I asked a Question on this topic two or three weeks ago. I support ...

My Lords, living as we do in a time when news reporting is constant, continuous and around the cl...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Hodgson for introducing his amendment, which woul...

My Lords, I am grateful to all who have participated in this short debate—the noble Baroness and ...