Rejected petition Impose an independent, fully-empowered Armed Forces Ombudsman on the MOD

The lessons of Deepcut - and of decades of bullying and abuse scandals - have been ignored by the MOD. In the British Army of 2014, the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

The government must impose an independent, fully-empowered Armed Forces Ombudsman to protect service personnel. Under pressure, the Army will adopt ‘agree and evade’ tactics: purporting to accept oversight in principle, but undermining it in practice. An ombudsman requires the following powers:

1. Receive copies of all complaints.

2. Wide investigatory and decision-making powers - able take over complaints if the Army fail to act properly within 28 days.

3. Direct - and enforce - implementation of its decisions.

4. Impose financial penalties - the Army responds to financial penalties, the routine means by which other regulators enforce compliance.

5. Recommend personnel policy changes and require a ministerial response.