HC Deb 09 February 1989 vol 146 cc766-7W
Mr. Sayeed

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration has been given to there being a common service discipline Act; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Neubert

Consideration has been given to this from time to time. Given the need, for operational reasons, to preserve differences in the statutory provisions for the different services, and that provision for these differences would continue to have to be made even within a common service discipline Act, our judgment, weighing the considerable effort and upheaval that such a change would involve against the benefits to be gained, is that there is not a sufficient case for changing the present statutory framework of service discipline.