Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many in-service complaints recorded by each of the armed forces included an oral hearing; and if he will detail the procedures for securing an oral hearing in each of the armed forces.

The numbers of Service complaints last year which included an oral hearing are given below:

A complainant may request an oral hearing, but the final decision as to whether one will be held is determined on a case-by-case basis by the body appointed to decide the Service complaint. Full details of the policy position regarding oral hearings in Service complaints are set out in Joint Service Publication 831 ‘Redress of Individual Grievances: Service Complaints’, Part 2, Chapter 5, paragraphs 29 to 34. This publication can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jsp-831-redress-of-individual-grievances-service-complaints