Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will conduct an internal review into his Department’s bullying, discrimination and harassment policy.

The Wigston Review into unacceptable behaviours was published in July 2019 and a full review of Bullying Harassment and Discrimination (BHD) policy was undertaken and updated throughout 2020 and published in June 2021 in Joint Service Publication 763 Behaviours and Informal Complaints Resolution: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jsp-763-the-mod-bullying-and-harassment-complaints-procedures. This defined what unacceptable behaviours are for the first time and mandated the use of Climate Assessments to measure prevalence of BHD in units.

In December 2020 Danuta Gray published her follow up report into the implementation of the Wigston Review; her work included her independent scrutiny of the Ministry of Defence’s BHD policies. The House of Commons Defence Committee has scrutinised the Department’s BHD policies over the last two years and made a number of recommendations aimed at redressing the balance to ensure that women in the Armed Forces feel valued and want to continue their service once they join.

The Department continues to review and update its policies on BHD subjects, published its Zero Tolerance of Sexual Harassment policy in 2022, and will update the relevant Joint Service guidance in 2024; this will be undertaken in conjunction with the Armed Forces.