Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to legislate to give members of the armed forces full access to employment tribunals.

Members of the Armed Forces have access to employment tribunals concerning a claim under the Equality Act 2010 in connection with certain allegations of discrimination. An employment tribunal will normally wait for the service complaints process to be finished before hearing any case. We have no current plans to broaden these provisions.

If a Service person has a valid grievance on any other matter relating to their service in the Armed Forces, they may make a service complaint and seek redress. The role of the Service Complaints Ombudsman was created to give complainants who are not satisfied with the outcome or handling of their complaint an independent route to addressing their concerns and to increase the level of independent oversight.

In certain circumstances, if the complainant remains unhappy with either the decision of the Ministry of Defence or the Ombudsman, they may also challenge those decisions by way of Judicial Review.