Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the number of reports of (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) discrimination within his Department.

A number of targeted interventions have been launched to enable Defence to improve our ability to prevent and tackle unacceptable behaviours. These include:

Completion of all recommendations from the Wigston/Gray review as at October 2023, such as the creation of Directorate of Conduct, Equity and Justice Directorate, the mandating of Climate Assessments across Defence, and the creation of a behaviours dashboard for use by senior boards drawing on complaint and attitude survey data (including Service Complaints, Informal Complaints, climate assessments, the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS), the Reserves Continuous Attitude Survey (ResCAS) and the People Survey.)

Service Complaints Reform which came into effect in June 2022 to build trust and confidence in Service Complaints system, introducing single Service Central Admissibility Teams, removing the decision on admissibility of a Service Complaint from the complainant’s Chain of Command, thereby improving independence and the use of the Outsourced Investigation service and independent members at Decision Body stage.

Launch of ‘Call it out to Cut it out’ gateway hub in January 2023 to inform and educate all Defence personnel on how to recognise and take action with regard to all forms of unacceptable behaviours. The hub outlines relevant policy and procedures, the routes for reporting unacceptable behaviour, and highlights the valuable role of the Assisting Officer through a new video training series launched in October 2023.

Re-letting of the 24 hr Anti-Bullying Helpline contract, which, since its launch, has received more than 700 calls and provided access specialised support and advice.

A Review of Centralised Handling of Service Complaints beginning October 2023, which will assess whether centralisation would further improve efficiency and trust. Initial findings are expected in early 2024.

Launch of ‘My Complaint’ in October 2023, a new App for raising a complaint, available through Defence Gateway, which prompts and guides individuals in raising complaints digitally. The next phase of the Service Complaints digitalisation project will see all complaints managed and monitored through a new Case Management System, allowing greater efficiency and transparency of case management processes.

The New Sexual Harassment Survey, which has just received Ministry of Defence Ethics Committee approval and will be run annually from Autumn 2024.