My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence People and Veterans (Johnny Mercer MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD)’s formal response to the Service Complaints Ombudsman’s (SCO) annual report for 2019 on the fairness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Service complaints system has today been placed in the Library of the House.
The Ombudsman’s report assessed the fourth year of operation of the reformed Service complaints system which was implemented on 1 January 2016 and the work of her office in 2019. The response sets out MOD’s comments and approach to each of the Ombudsman’s new recommendations, the observations that she has made and includes a summary of our position on recommendations made in previous annual reports.
The MOD values the strong independent oversight that the Ombudsman brings to the Service complaints process, and remains committed to having a system in which our personnel can have confidence. This will include progressing outstanding recommendations and observations, together with improvements identified in Air Marshal Wigston’s Report in April 2019 on Inappropriate Behaviours.
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