Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many complaints of sexual harassment have been (a) formally reported and (b) upheld in each service and his Department's Civil Service in each year since 2010.

Figures on the number of complaints of sexual harassment made by Service personnel since 2010 are published in the Service Complaints Commissioner's (SCC) Annual Reports. The full reports are presented annually to the House and are also located on the SCC website at the following link:

http://armedforcescomplaints.independent.gov.uk/newsandpublications.htm

Information on complaints from each service can be found in the relevant pages:

2013 Annual Report – page 72, appendix 3.

2012 Annual Report – page 62, appendix 3.

2011 Annual Report – page 59, appendix 3.

2010 Annual Report – page 89, appendix 6

Since 2010, there have been five reported complaints of sexual harassment amongst civilian staff at the Ministry for Defence.

Due to the small number of cases of sexual harassment reported by Service personnel and civilian staff, providing a breakdown of this information by year might breach Data Protection legislation. The outcome of complaints against sexual harassment is considered sensitive personal data and the disclosure of this information would be unreasonable.