Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, to outline what steps his Department is taking to make the Armed Forces inclusive for members of the LGBT+ community.

Defence is proud of all our LGBT+ military and civilian personnel, and the significant contribution they make to ensure national security, support our national interests, and safeguard our prosperity. It is essential to Defence operational effectiveness that we build a more inclusive and diverse organisation to achieve a stronger, healthier, and more resilient workforce and maximise the talent of all our people.

We are committed to continue working with our LGBT+ networks to improve the lived experience of Service personnel and civilian staff. They provide excellent support to the LGBT+ community through conferences, communications, and engagement, and provide direct support to individuals as required.

Our Armed Forces and civilian personnel regularly take part in London Pride, in addition to other Pride events across the country. Attendance at Pride events by Defence LGBT+ personnel is a powerful demonstration of how inclusive an employer Defence is and the extent to which we represent UK society. Uniformed personnel make a very public statement that you can be LGBT+ and serve your country. This challenges stereotypes and misconceptions held by serving personnel; potential recruits and gatekeepers; veterans; and the public more widely.

Defence is committed to taking forward restorative action for LGBT individuals who were impacted by historic policies. It is a priority for us to implement the vast majority of recommendations from the Lord Etherton report and guarantee that our LGBT+ personnel remain properly supported.

Finally, work is ongoing to update internal Defence policies and processes. We have streamlined the process for registering Armed Forces Chapels for same-sex couple marriage. This change will make it quicker and easier to do and, given that only two Chapels in England and Wales are currently registered for same-sex couples marriage, this change will have a highly positive impact on our LGBT+ community. Looking to the future, we are exploring options to develop a mechanism to ensure this process is as fast as it can be, to affirm equal opportunity for all Defence people. We are also working to update the online HR system for the Armed Forces with more declaration categories for faith and belief, gender, and sexual orientation. This will help to improve declaration rates which will allow us to target support in the right places.