Armed Forces: Sexual Offences

(asked on 26th May 2016) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking in response to the Armed Forces 2015 survey findings that (a) 12 per cent of women surveyed reported that someone had made unwelcome attempts to touch them and (b) only three per cent of servicewomen who were very upset about an incident of sexual harassment made a formal complaint.


This question was answered on 6th June 2016

The Armed Forces take all allegations of sexual harassment very seriously; all such allegations are thoroughly investigated and action is taken where appropriate. We recognise that it takes great courage to come forward and report such allegations and we have taken a number of steps to improve training and awareness to ensure that Service personnel know how to report concerns and what support is available to them.

We also recognise that tackling sexual harassment in the Armed Forces depends on Service personnel having confidence that the complaints system will deal with their concerns appropriately and will treat them fairly. This year has seen the introduction of a fundamentally new Service Complaints Ombudsman role and a reformed complaints system. The new process is streamlined and Service personnel are now able to approach the Ombudsman if they are dissatisfied.

The Ombudsman has significant new powers to hold the Ministry of Defence to account for fair, effective and efficient complaints handling. The Ombudsman comments in her 2015 Annual Report (published in April 2016) that she is hopeful that the new system will make a real impact on confidence levels. It is important that all Service Personnel know where to get information about how to make a Service complaint, as well as about the role of the new Service Complaints Ombudsman and we will take further steps to communicate as widely as possible through appropriate channels the complaints process, particularly to female and junior personnel.

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