Armed Forces Commissioner Bill (Second sitting)

Andrew Ranger Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 10th December 2024 Public Bill Committees

[The Chair]

I call Andrew Ranger—quickly, please.

[Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Q Armed Forces Commissioner is an important role, and they need to get to the information and the people that they need. What enforcement mechanism will be available to them if people do not co-operate?

Luke Pollard: There is an obligation in the Bill for the Secretary of State to co-operate with the commissioner to provide information. “Secretary of State” means that the whole organisation under the Secretary of State also has that obligation placed on them. I expect that, on appointment, the processes and functions will be established, just as they are with the current SCOAF function, in terms of being able to request information—who that goes to, how that should happen, and what the processes and procedures are to enable that to happen.

If there are any obstacles or failure to deliver, which I think is what my hon. Friend is getting at, the Bill allows the commissioner to report that to Parliament in their annual report: effectively to say, “There is a problem here”. That would provide the parliamentary scrutiny, which, for any future Secretary of State, would be a deterrent against failing to provide the necessary information. Equally, we put a power in the Bill for the Secretary of State to have to report to Parliament if they dismiss or remove the Armed Forces Commissioner, to enable that scrutiny function of Parliament as an oversight for the work of the Executive.

[Andrew Ranger]

Q Very briefly, how quickly do you expect to have the commissioner up and running in post?

Luke Pollard: I would expect the Bill to complete early next year. I would expect the appointment process to take roughly a year, and the office to be stood up as a commissioner’s office at the start of 2026, taking cases and, importantly, ensuring that all SCOAF cases are smoothly transitioned without any detriment to the individuals in that process—from the SCOAF function into the Armed Forces Commissioner function—to make sure there is no loss of any of that provision.

[The Chair]

With perfect timing, that concludes our session.