No one could possibly disagree with that. I am sure that that is an issue that the hon. Lady will pursue whatever happens.
My penultimate question lies with clause 332, that is headed, ““Composition and procedure of service complaints panels””. Can an independent member—and I generally agree with this, although it has perhaps not gone far enough—be a naval chaplain? We do not know, and it might be thought that it does not matter. We do not know because so much will be introduced by regulation by the Secretary of State. We know that an Army chaplain cannot be an independent member of a complaints panel because that is provided for in the clause. However, clause 361 provides that naval chaplains, as explained in paragraph 849 of the explanatory notes, ““have no rank””. So if a naval chaplain has no rank, is he a member of the armed forces? So can he or can he not be an independent member of a complaints panel? This is a detail, but the sort of detail that will somewhere rear its head.
Armed Forces Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Robert Key
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Monday, 12 December 2005.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Armed Forces Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
440 c1172 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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2024-04-21 13:36:21 +0100
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