§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the consolidation of the Service Discipline Acts. [122507]
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§ Mr. SpellarWe recognise the importance of updating the legislation governing discipline in the armed forces. It has been the intention for some time to consolidate the Army and Air Force Acts 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957. We have been taking stock of the consolidation in the light of the changes to the present legislation made by the Armed Forces Discipline Bill and the likelihood of further changes in the quinquennial Armed Forces Bill in the next Session.
A further consideration is the Government's intention, indicated in the Strategic Defence Review, to replace the three present Acts with a single tri-Service Act. It is planned that the substantive development of this important project should get under way as soon as the quinquennial Bill is enacted and that, when the work is complete, the resulting legislation should be introduced when the parliamentary timetable allows. As a consequence, legislation consolidating the present Acts would be likely to have an effective life of only a few years.
We have therefore concluded that the most sensible approach would be to subsume consolidation within the development of the tri-Service Act, the purpose of which will be to provide legislation that better meets the requirements of the three Services in an increasingly joint environment.