Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to strengthen the powers of the Service Complaints Ombudsman and, in particular, to make the Ombudsman’s recommendations legally binding.

The powers of the Service Complaints Ombudsman were subject to extensive consideration during the passage of The Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Act 2015. We have no current plans to change those powers.

As I have stated in my previous answer to the noble Lady's Question HL5618 on 6 March 2018, recommendations made by the Ombudsman are not legally binding, but they do have considerable weight. The expectation is that the Services will follow recommendations made by the Ombudsman, unless there are good, cogent and defensible reasons not to do so.