Armed Forces: Sexual Offences

(asked on 19th April 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the levels of military initiation rituals which humiliate and sexually abuse serving personnel.


Answered by
Leo Docherty Portrait
Leo Docherty
Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
This question was answered on 25th April 2022

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regards any involvement of personnel in any form of initiation ceremony as unacceptable. Humiliating fellow personnel is bullying, while sexual abuse is a criminal offence; both are unacceptable behaviours and neither are tolerated. Allegations concerning initiation ceremonies will be formally investigated and, if substantiated, may result in disciplinary and/or administrative action being taken against those involved. Soliciting or coercing another to undertake any such activity is also unacceptable. Fortunately, the occurrence of such initiations remains rare across all three Services of the Armed Forces, however, even one such event is too many, and the MOD is committed to tackling any unacceptable behaviours present among our Service personnel.

Reticulating Splines