Armed Forces: Sexuality

(asked on 27th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more service personnel to declare their sexual orientation.


Answered by
Tobias Ellwood Portrait
Tobias Ellwood
This question was answered on 6th July 2018

Whilst noting that it is a personal choice, Armed Forces Personnel are encouraged to anonymously declare their sexual orientation on the Armed Forces HR system. A wide range of methods are utilised to encourage personnel to declare. These include communications campaigns, briefings from senior leaders, encouragement at staff college courses/conferences, involvement of the LGBT staff networks and as part of induction procedures for arrivals at a new unit. Personnel are assured of the confidentiality of the data and the benefits of recording it - to ensure policies are relevant, appropriate and informed.

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