The last three months have been an emotional rollercoaster. Reading and summarising 163 stories submitted directly to me - tales of military rape, sexual assault, inequality of treatment on Ops, careers shortened due to sexist systems, inappropriate training & equipment - and of coercive practices to force individuals to keep silent about poor treatment. This has been my reading material since autumn 2020. And the themes I identified are the same themes that have been shared in the wider inquiry submissions.
My report has now been submitted. Thank you to all those who took part. I am slowly contacting each of you, to share the report and also to gauge interest in setting up an event with Sarah Atherton MP, on completion of the inquiry. This is likely to be a virtual event and we are working on how to assure anonymity at the moment.
My report is not describing one or two isolated incidents or a problem limited to veterans - there are widespread and common themes emerging. Around half of the submissions were from individuals still serving - who have taken the rare, authorised opportunity to share similar experiences. It showed that while many still feel service is a good opportunity, too many are cutting short promising careers due to chronic poor treatment. Many reported leaving, rather than reporting toxic attitudes and behaviours (a statistic confirmed by the service ombudsman herself), due to a woefully one-sided complaints system. And nearly all who did complain reported a perverse and toxic complaints system which actively delayed outcomes, lost evidence and prevented justice.
Sexist culture is no longer endemic to the modern armed forces, but it is still widespread. What is endemic is the unwillingness to deal with problems fairly when they arise. And the punishment of those who do speak up - whether as victims or witnesses.
A key finding was that where 'laddish culture', criminal and inappropriate behaviour was reported - it was rarely investigated to a standard most would expect of a UK public body today. So why is the armed forces the only public body to be authorised to inspect, police and investigate itself? My report gives more detail on why this privilege should be ended and is a root cause of ongoing toxic behaviours. Alongside patchy senior leadership, often too focused on looking up at their own careers than down on what is happening. Uniformed members of the armed forces need a representative body (a recommendation that was a headline of the Wigston report, which appears to have been quietly shelved by the MoD - there is no mention of it in the latest Armed Forces Act amendments).
My next steps will be giving oral evidence to the Defence Select Committee, to add some detail to the report. The final report from the Inquiry is expected in June 2021.
Other News Stories this month:
The Armed Force Bill - a missed opportunity.
Medics leave armed forces, due to attitudes 30 years out of date.
The new Independent Defence Authority speaks up.
