Courts Martial (Hansard, 21 January 2004)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)
My Lords, the Government have no plans to abolish courts martial. Indeed, the Government welcome the recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights which ruled that, as a whole, the court martial system, with its safeguards to guarantee its independence and impartiality, is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

§ Lord Burnham
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Is it not true that, at present, courts martial have been abolished in the Royal Navy?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, it is not true that courts martial have been abolished in the Royal Navy or anywhere else. It is true that in January there will not be courts martial held in the Navy, but I understand that they will begin again in February and will continue as before.

§ Lord Borrie
My Lords, is it not the case that in the European Court, to which my noble friend the Minister referred, the proceedings of courts martial were upheld in general but there was criticism of Royal Navy courts martial, as distinct from those in the other armed services, because the Judge Advocate was an officer in the Royal Navy, not an independent civilian?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, my noble friend is right. The Court concluded that the position of a Judge Advocate did not provide a strong guarantee of the independence of naval courts martial for two main reasons: first, the use of a serving naval officer in that role and, secondly, the appointment of judge advocates to individual trials by the Chief Naval Judge Advocate—a serving naval officer. We have 1020 accordingly decided that the first should cease. Regarding the second, a remedial order was laid before both Houses on 15 January 2004, under Section 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, to deal with the problem, which is provided for by statute.

§ Lord Boyce
My Lords, I find that conclusion by the European Court of Human Rights somewhat hard to follow, especially given the evidence of there being no suspicion whatsoever of any bias in the review of courts martial in the Navy over the past 10 years. The ruling is a bitter blow to naval lawyers, whose dedication to the administration of justice in the Royal Navy is highly regarded, not just in the Navy, but by the highest courts in the land, and to the huge number of people who turn to naval lawyers for their assistance and advice. The conclusion also undermines the executive in the maintenance of good order and service discipline. We should regret that trend and the lack of recognition that there are areas where the Armed Forces are, by necessity, different from other walks of life. Will the Minister give an assurance that he will do everything possible to arrest the trend, or, at the least, safeguard the pre-eminence of the presidents of courts martial?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble and gallant Lord, who speaks with great experience on this issue. While we welcome that the Court ruled that, as a whole, the service courts martial system is compliant with the convention on human rights, we are disappointed that the Court concluded that the use of uniformed judge advocates did not constitute a sufficiently strong guarantee of independence. However, I stress that the Court did not find any actual bias in the operation of naval courts martial. I should like to take the opportunity which the noble and gallant Lord has afforded me to pay tribute to the work of naval judge advocates in the maintenance of the disciplinary system. I have been most impressed by the professional response to the Court's judgment and by the speed and efficiency with which the necessary amendments to the courts martial system have been implemented.

§ Lord Lester of Herne Hill
My Lords, am I right in saying that the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights was of the Grand Chamber—that is to say, a very large number was unanimous—and that the central holding was that the pivotal role of the judge advocate deprived naval courts martial of one of the most significant guarantees of independence enjoyed by the other services' courts martial, the Army and Air Force courts martial systems, being the same for all relevant purposes? Does the Minister agree that it would be very strange if justice were in some way less robust for the admirable members of the Royal Navy than it was for the other two armed services?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, I do not think that there could be any serious suggestion that, in practice, as shown over many years, discipline and courts martial are more robust in terms of independence and impartiality in one of the services than in another. 1021 However, I pay tribute to the noble Lord's undoubted expertise in this field. He is right that it was indeed the Grand Chamber and that it was indeed unanimous. There has been a difference between the courts martial systems in the Royal Navy on the one hand and the Army and the Royal Air Force on the other. As soon as we can possibly find parliamentary time for it, from 2005–06 onwards—I say this also to the noble Lord, Lord Burnham, as the matter is of great interest to him—we intend that there should be a tri-service Act to sort out this matter once and for all.

§ Earl Attlee
My Lords, can the Minister say when he first became aware of the difficulties referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, and why an opportunity was not taken in the quinquennial review of 2001 to rectify these difficulties?

§ Lord Bach
My Lords, as I think I replied to the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Boyce, we regret that the Court found as it did. We believe that the system worked perfectly well. However, we have been signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights for many years now, under governments of both parties, and when the Court rules, of course we take the necessary action.