Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of results found by the Armed Forces Sexualised Behaviours and Sexual Harassment Survey published on the 13 November 2025.

Sexual harassment and sexualised behaviours undermine the wellbeing of our people and operational effectiveness and have no place in Defence. Last year, Defence launched the Raising Our Standards programme, under direct Ministerial oversight through a Steering Board which I chair, as well as external scrutiny through an External Challenge Panel to hold Defence leaders to account. Raising our Standards is central to Defence’s response and is driving the cultural change we need, and is therefore a long-term programme of reform.

By commissioning the UK’s first ever comprehensive military sexual harassment survey, this Government is establishing, for the first time, a no holds barred baseline to fully confront and address the root causes of the issue, and set new standards in transparency and accountability across our Armed Forces. While the survey represents a small sample—around 17% of regulars and 5% of reserves—these findings provide new, detailed, and unprecedented insights to help combat unacceptable behaviour and target immediate areas of focus:

We’re implementing a Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) taskforce – for all Servicewomen and men – with physical hubs supporting the breadth of the Defence footprint, with initial locations in Catterick and Plymouth. With prevention at its core, this taskforce aims to tackle the root causes of harmful behaviour rather than simply responding to incidents.

Other initiatives include a Kings Counsel review of cases of unacceptable behaviours, and the application of zero tolerance policies, and the set-up of a new Tri-Service Complaints Unit to handle the most serious complaints outside of Service Chains of Command. The pilot for this new Unit is already underway. An Armed Forces Commissioner will also be appointed shortly.

We will continue to deliver Whole Force educational and behavioural campaigns. Recently, a new mandatory training package was introduced for all senior military leaders on how to recognise and respond to unacceptable behaviour and support victims. We have also already launched a new Service Complaints App to make it easier for personnel to raise concerns, and strengthened external oversight through the Service Police Complaints Commissioner to provide impartial scrutiny of complaints.

Defence remains committed to decisive, evidence-based action to protect our people and uphold the highest standards for everyone.