Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the data recorded in the Joint Personnel Administration system, how many complaints have been made by Junior Soldiers or their parents or guardians about (a) violent behaviour by staff and (b) inappropriate relationships between Junior Soldiers and staff since 1 January 2014.

Any reports of such behaviour are taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly. Anyone found to be not upholding the high standards that we expect of our personnel will be dealt with accordingly.

Notes/Caveats

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest ten. Rounding is used as a means of disclosure control and the preservation of anonymity.
2. Each case relates to one suspect but may include more than one alleged incident and/or victim. One suspect may have more than one case recorded.
3. JPA is a live system which is updated for retrospective complaints/allegations and therefore data can be subject to change.
4. In each case a judgement was made as to whether an allegation constituted violent behaviour.
5. These figures are single service estimates only and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.