Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act on humanist education.
Answered by Sarah Dines
As is the case whenever a new government is formed, we are now looking again at the Bill of Rights to ensure that it meets the government’s objectives.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answers of 15 February 2022 to Questions 119629 and 119630, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Administration on the potential impact of clauses 3(2) and 3(3)(a) of the Bill of Rights Bill on the legal recognition of humanist marriages in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Sarah Dines
As is the case whenever a new government is formed, we are now looking again at the Bill of Rights to ensure that it meets the government’s objectives.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 13 July (HL1351), what proportion of those using chaplaincy provided by their service identified as non-religious; what reasons were given for dissatisfaction with or a neutral stance towards the service received; what steps have been taken to improve the service in response to the 30-40 per cent of respondents who declared themselves either neutral towards or dissatisfied with the service they had received; and what resources, including funded posts comparable to religious chaplaincy, are provided to the various staff networks, including the Humanist And Non-religious in Defence Network, to provide support to those Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Information regarding how many users of the chaplaincy identified as non-religious is not held. Data regarding any protected characteristics of individuals seeking confidential pastoral support is not normally recorded, nor will they necessarily even arise or be disclosed unless they have a direct bearing upon the issues at hand.
Where dissatisfaction or a neutral stance is expressed in the Armed Forces Continuous Attitudes Survey (AFCAS), the specific reasoning behind each survey response is not recorded. AFCAS does not go into that level of detail, however, local evaluations in-Unit routinely show high levels of satisfaction with the teaching and pastoral care that chaplaincy provides.
Neutral responses with the AFCAS survey are often in effect a “not applicable (N/A)” response. In this case the respondents are not likely to have sought direct support from the chaplaincy in the time frame of the AFCAS survey. As they are unlikely to have accessed or used the service provided, there are no specific measures targeting improvement for this cohort of respondents.
Information regarding a breakdown of resources comparing the chaplaincy to the various staff networks that provide support to Service personnel is not held in the format requested.
The question of the religion, belief, or any other protected characteristics of an individual in contact with chaplaincy has absolutely no bearing on priority of access for pastoral support. Pastoral support is delivered according to need and open to all.
Asked by: Lord Low of Dalston (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of non-religious pastoral care in the armed forces of the Kingdoms of Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands; and whether they will consider introducing a similar model in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. Military Chaplains are selected and trained primarily because of their ability to show empathy to all Service personnel. They are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith, world philosophy or status and will provide or facilitate spiritual support to personnel and their families as requested. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain for faith/belief/philosophical reasons are encouraged to seek spiritual support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The MOD is aware that the Armed Forces of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands employ humanist pastoral carers (or similar). We are working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have recently concluded a review of the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
Asked by: Lord Low of Dalston (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they consider religious chaplains qualified to offer pastoral support to non-religious armed forces personnel; and if so, why.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. Military Chaplains are selected and trained primarily because of their ability to show empathy to all Service personnel. They are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith, world philosophy or status and will provide or facilitate spiritual support to personnel and their families as requested. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain for faith/belief/philosophical reasons are encouraged to seek spiritual support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The MOD is aware that the Armed Forces of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands employ humanist pastoral carers (or similar). We are working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have recently concluded a review of the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the law on genuine occupational requirement, whether he has considered the potential merits of providing non-religious as well as religious pastoral support to armed forces personnel.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of philosophy or faith background. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain are encouraged to seek support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff and welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The Department is working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels able to be authentic; where people feel respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have carefully considered the position expressed by Humanists UK on the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and have recently concluded a review of this matter. We are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, (1) how levels of satisfaction with the armed forces’ pastoral support services are measured, (2) whether they will publish the results, and (3) whether armed forces personnel are asked if they wish to receive non-religious pastoral care.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of philosophy or faith background. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain are encouraged to seek support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff and welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The publicly available annual Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey shows that, of those who have used chaplaincy support provided by their Service, satisfaction with the service has ranged between 61% and 65%. Dissatisfaction levels have been consistently low, recorded at either 4% or 5%, with the remaining 30% to 35% of respondents having a neutral stance on the service.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has plans to recruit non-religious chaplains to provide belief-based support for regular and reserve personnel who identify as having no religion.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Ministry of Defence has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. All military Chaplains have long provided pastoral care to those of all faiths and none. In addition, all Service personnel can access pastoral care from a variety of sources, including from within their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff and via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The Department is working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have carefully considered the position expressed by Humanists UK on the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and have recently concluded a review of this matter. We are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
It will take time to collate a detailed breakdown of personnel employed to provide belief-specific pastoral support and chaplaincy care, and I will write in due course.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel are employed in (a) the armed forces and (b) his Department to provide belief specific pastoral support and chaplaincy care to members of (i) non-religious, (ii) Baha’i, (iii) Buddhism, (iv) Hinduism, (v) Islam, (vi) Jainism, (vii) Judaism, (viii) Rastafarianism, (ix) Sikhism, (x) Zoroastrianism, (xi) Anglicanism, (xii) Roman Catholicism, (xiii) Methodism and (xiv) other Christian religion and belief groups.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Ministry of Defence has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. All military Chaplains have long provided pastoral care to those of all faiths and none. In addition, all Service personnel can access pastoral care from a variety of sources, including from within their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff and via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The Department is working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have carefully considered the position expressed by Humanists UK on the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and have recently concluded a review of this matter. We are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
It will take time to collate a detailed breakdown of personnel employed to provide belief-specific pastoral support and chaplaincy care, and I will write in due course.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
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 Humanists UK’s submission to the call for evidence on the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, dated September 2020, on the provision of non-religious pastoral support to armed forces personnel.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Ministry of Defence has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. All military Chaplains have long provided pastoral care to those of all faiths and none. In addition, all Service personnel can access pastoral care from a variety of sources, including from within their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff and via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The Department is working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have carefully considered the position expressed by Humanists UK on the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and have recently concluded a review of this matter. We are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
It will take time to collate a detailed breakdown of personnel employed to provide belief-specific pastoral support and chaplaincy care, and I will write in due course.