Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the findings and recommendations of the Service Complaint Ombudsman are legally binding on the Ministry of Defence; and if not, what further recourse is open to service personnel with a grievance.

Should the Service Complaints Ombudsman accept for investigation an allegation made by a complainant alleging that either the Service has erred in a decision concerning the admissibility of a complaint or whether an appeal can be proceeded with against a decision on a Service complaint, then the findings of the Ombudsman are binding. Should the complainant disagree with the Ombudsman’s findings in these instances, the mechanism for challenging the findings would be by judicial review.

In all other complaints which are accepted by the Ombudsman for investigation, the Ombudsman must prepare a report setting out the findings and any recommendations. Recommendations made by the Ombudsman are not binding but do have considerable weight. The expectation is that the Services will follow recommendations made unless there are good, cogent and defensible reasons not to do so.

The Ombudsman must send a copy of the report to the Service, who must consider it and notify the Ombudsman and the complainant in writing giving reasons of the action (if any) they decide to take in response to the findings and recommendations.

Where the Service decide to reject a recommendation, they must notify the Ombudsman and the complainant, giving the reasons. If the complainant believes that the Service or the Ministry of Defence has not acted reasonably in response to the Ombudsman’s recommendations, it is open to them to challenge the Ministry of Defence by way of judicial review.