Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

Peter Swallow Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

It is interesting to be taking part in a debate that has such an outbreak of consensus—indeed, it is a bit unsettling in this particular Chamber. However, the Scottish National party will be doing nothing to rock the boat given that we welcome the role of Armed Forces Commissioner, especially their authority to investigate welfare complaints from our armed forces. This has been a long time coming. The welcome superseding of the Service Complaints Ombudsman with a vital element that allows servicemen and women recourse to a functioning complaint system outwith the chain of command is only going to be good news, and will be in step with the ambitions of many right hon. and hon. Members.

I take this opportunity to commend the foresight of my friend and colleague, the former Member for West Dunbartonshire, Martin Docherty-Hughes, who brought forward his Armed Forces Representative Body Bill in 2019. If that Bill had been supported, it would have achieved many of the same aims as this Bill but five years earlier. Nevertheless, a key development now is the ability of the commissioner to visit defence establishments unannounced and commission reports on what they find there. That is a central and vital improvement over the demonstrably inadequate powers of the ombudsman. The reports will face the scrutiny of colleagues in this Chamber and of the Defence Committee, which is welcome. I know that that scrutiny will be applied with rigour.

The Bill should go a long way towards shining a light on the manifold circumstances in which many in our armed forces and their families have been treated poorly by successive UK Governments. Much of that has been caused by disastrous privatisation misadventures pursued for short-term gains at the expense of long-term value; our men and women in uniform, together with their families, pay the price for that suboptimal policy in their daily lives and routines. We should also note that the issues facing armed forces personnel are already extremely well known, documented and understood within and outwith this Chamber. What the commissioner must reveal, therefore, is the depth and scale of these issues. As has already been touched on, that will necessarily make difficult reading for the ministerial team. I salute their ability to leave themselves open to that scrutiny.

A key factor driving the poor experiences of armed forces personnel is the perpetual misallocation of funding and a lack of political will to establish a verifiable balance between the demands of the state on the armed forces to deliver defence and security, and the vote of funding allocated to the armed forces by the same state to deliver against that priority. Everything has an upper elastic limit, and if the Government do not get their act together on allocating 2.5% of GDP for defence, I greatly fear that our armed forces will exceed their upper limit very soon—commissioner or not. From the junior ranks to the Chief of the Defence Staff, they are asking for nothing other than long-term clarity to allow them to deliver long-term stability.

A key performance indicator of any large organisation, especially one with such an unenviable relationship with recruitment and retention, is morale. That is a key reason why people are leaving in such huge numbers, at tremendous cost to defence in financial and operational ways. The solutions to many of these problems are fairly straightforward, but expensive. They include properly maintained housing stock, better mental health support, better support for families when people are deployed, and decent pay—all of which are outwith the remit of any commissioner. The Bill represents a welcome stride forward, but it is no silver bullet to fix life in the UK armed forces.

As we have already heard, almost 60% of personnel report low morale. Only a third are satisfied with the welfare support that their family receive when they return from deployment, and many personnel live in poor accommodation. Perhaps most importantly for the commissioner, only 23% of serving personnel think that leaders will take meaningful action to address issues identified in the continuous attitude survey. That is not a great report card for this or the previous Government, but it is certainly a starter for 10 for the commissioner.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

Would the hon. Gentleman like to welcome the 20 hours of wraparound childcare for service personnel serving overseas that the Government announced this weekend, which will save serving families £3,400?

--- Later in debate ---

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

As the MP for Sandhurst, I am proud to represent the home of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where every British Army officer starts their journey of service; it is important to reflect that in recent years that service has not necessarily been repaid by us. I am alarmed that only four in 10 service personnel are satisfied with service life, and the fact that the armed forces are shrinking due to a recruitment and retention crisis should worry us all.

With that in mind, I warmly welcome the establishment of the Armed Forces Commissioner, as part of the Government’s overall plans to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve us. It is vital that the Armed Forces Commissioner should be independent. I noted with interest the contribution made by my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), the Chair of the Defence Committee, on that point; I also noted the view of my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth Moor View (Fred Thomas) that the overwhelming proof of that independence will be whether the commissioner is in a position to shine a light on welfare matters, to address issues of culture and to raise the quality of service life. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. On that note, it is welcome that the commissioner will be able to bring their reports to Parliament for us to scrutinise. It is also vital that the role should be a powerful voice for service families; those who serve are too often constrained by the lack of support for those who support them in their important role. I also welcome the proactive investigatory powers of the Armed Forces Commissioner.

The Bill is welcome, but it is important to note that it is only part of a wider commitment to supporting our armed forces, which includes decent pay rises, with 35% more pay for recruits; £3.5 million more to support veterans facing homelessness; and the expansion of the veterans card as an approved form of voter ID. It will be digitised, too. This weekend, 20 hours of wraparound childcare for service personnel serving overseas was announced, which will save families £3,400. That is important because too often serving members of our armed forces find that their families at home are not given the support while they serve our country overseas. That has to change in a modern world where—in the armed forces, as in the rest of society—two members of a household will often be working. It is important for us to give that support for family care, including to single parents who are serving.

Finally, I take this opportunity to reflect on the grim anniversary that we face tomorrow: 1,000 days since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. This is an important moment to reflect on the sacrifice and service we ask of our armed forces, as we look to the brave service of Ukrainian soldiers facing up to the aggression of Putin’s illegal war. The world is a more dangerous place. We ask a great deal of those who serve for us, and they do so knowing that they may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. With that in mind, it is vital that we renew our contract with those who serve us, so that we serve them. The Bill is an important step in getting that right.