Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by The Earl of Minto on 27 November 2023 (HL200), what assessment they have made of the accuracy of report of the Board of Inquiry into the Nimrod crash on 2 September 1995, taking into consideration the rules pertaining to such boards of inquiry at that time, and its finding that Flight Lieutenant Dominic Gilbert was to blame for the crash.

It is not possible to re-consider aspects of Boards of Inquiry held in the past without full reinvestigation of the original incident. It would not be in the public interest to re-open any such inquiries, where it is deemed there are no lessons to be identified for the Service, such as when aircraft are no longer in service. The likely complexity of such work due to the passage of time and the need to re-allocate Departmental resources are also significant considerations.

In 1997 Defence Ministers directed that BOI should not be permitted to attribute blame or negligence in cases of unnatural death or serious injury. Subsequently, in 2008, Boards of Inquiry were replaced by Service Inquiries under the Armed Forces Act 2006, separating accident investigation from the operational chain of command.

Service Inquiries (SI) are not permitted to find negligence or apportion blame, in order to encourage an open reporting culture, and to ensure that full and frank evidence be provided to SI panels.