Armed Forces: Training

(asked on 29th January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Service law in holding people accountable for military training supervision.


Answered by
Johnny Mercer Portrait
Johnny Mercer
Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This question was answered on 3rd February 2020

I refer the hon. Member to the Government response to the Defence Committee's specific recommendations and conclusions

(https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmdfence/525/52504.htm#_idTextAnchor001), and specifically to answers 21 to 28 in the section titled "Accountability".

The exemptions to the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 relating to operations, "hazardous training in preparation for operations", and Specialist Military Units were addressed in answer 25 of the Government response. The rationale set out then remains valid but as the answer notes, the situation is kept under review.

The Ministry of Defence believes that the range of criminal, disciplinary and administrative powers available provides a sufficient means of holding individuals, the Armed Forces, and the Department accountable for training supervision, but this too remains under review and any necessary changes will be addressed in the next Armed Forces Bill.

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