Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether (a) written and (b) photographic materials taken from people investigated for homosexuality in the armed forces (i) are still held by his Department, (ii) were returned to those investigated and (iii) were destroyed.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Service police investigative records are routinely and lawfully destroyed in line with data protection legislation and Defence policy; once they have no investigative value there is no basis to retain them, particularly as they contain sensitive personal information. Furthermore, the destruction of investigative records concerning decriminalised sexual offences in line with Defence policy means that most investigative records relating to LGBT ‘offences’ have been destroyed.