Military Complaints: MPs Want Ombudsman

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Bullying and harassment are on the increase in the UK armed services and the system needs to change, according to a senior group of politicians.

Their report goes on to claim that the existing structure within the military is incapable of dealing with complaints because it is inefficient and complicated.

The House of Commons Defence Select Committee has spoken out against the current complaints procedure and made it clear that an Armed Forces Ombudsman should be appointed to rectify this.

Committee chairman James Arbuthnot has claimed "there are too many reports of Service personnel being reluctant to raise genuine complaints and grievances".

Replacing the Service Complaints Commissioner with an Armed Forces Ombudsman would hold "the Services to account for the proper administration of their complaints processes and the delivery of justice, and identifying possible improvements to the system".

However, the committee made clear its disappointment that the Ministry of Defence has not taken its wishes onboard.

Among other recommendations, the politicians want the performance of Commanding Officers to be monitored when facing complaints.

"There are still too many instances of delay and inefficiency, in part caused by a lack of resources," Mr Arbuthnot said.

"This must be dealt with urgently so as to ensure there is confidence in the system and the Commissioner.

"Our Servicemen and Servicewomen deserve a complaints system that is as good as it can be. Not to provide this would be a failure of the nation's duty to them."

The report does recognise that more complaints could be an indication of a more effective system and admits that the number of sexual harassment complaints remains low - although it questions how faithful these statistics are.

The report cites fear of redundancy as one reason why many serving personnel might chose not to make complaints.

Because of cuts to the UK defence budgets, thousands of staff are losing their jobs across all three services. They have asked the military to investigate this fear and report back immediately.

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