Racial Discrimination (Hansard, 13 January 1989)

§ Mr. Ashley
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many service men in the armed forces have instituted a complaint of racial discrimination or abuse under(a) the Race Relations Act 1976 and (b) revelant sections of the Service discipline Acts; and if he will publish the details of such cases;
(2) how many service men in the armed forces have instituted a complaint of racial discrimination or abuse under the grievance procedures provided in the Service discipline Acts; and if he will publish the details of such cases.

§ Mr. Neubert
Section 75(8) of the Race Relations Act 1976 provides that complaints of racial discrimination made by members of the armed forces shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions for the redress of complaints set out in the service discipline Acts. Submissions for redress of complaint may be dealt with by commanding officers or at any of the higher levels of command up to, and including, the service boards of the Defence Council.
775W
No central records are kept of the total number of submissions made. However, of submissions considered by the service boards since the Race Relations Act 1976 came into force in 1977, none was concerned with alleged racial discrimination or abuse.

§ Mr. Ashley
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on how many occasions since the Race Relations Act 1976 became law has the special investigations branch investigated allegations of racial discrimination or abuse; and if he will publish the details of such cases;
(2) on how many occasions since the Race Relations Act 1968 became law have incidences of racial discrimination or abuse, whether actual, reported or alleged, been brought to the attention of the special investigations branch, senior regimental officers or the authorities of his Department; and if he will publish the details of such cases.

§ Mr. Neubert
Records are not maintained in a form which enables this information to be provided.

§ Mr. Ashley
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what circumstances led the Commission for Racial Equality to make representations to his Department about ways of dealing with racial discrimination; what has been his Department's reponse to these representations; and what arrangements are in force or planned within the armed services to prevent racial abuse or provocation and to improve awareness of dangers of racial discrimination.

§ Mr. Neubert
My Department has received no recent representations but has had a number of discussions with the Commission for Racial Equality both directly and in the forum of the Home Secretary's Advisory Council on Race Relations. The CRE has been helpful, for example, in the drafting of terms of reference for a study by independent consultants following the results of the first year of ethnic monitoring of applicants and recruits to the armed forces. The aim of the study, for which invitations to tender have now been issued, is to attract more young people from the ethnic minorities to careers in the armed forces.
Measures to discourage racial discrimination were set out in the memorandum from the Ministry of Defence to the House of Commons Defence Committee which was published in the First Report from the Defence Committee, Session 1987–88 (HC 391) and I refer the right hon. Member to pages 4 to 9 of that report. More recently instructions have been issued to recruiting staff, further Defence Council instructions have been issued and some 65,000 copies of the leaflet "The Armed Forces—Your Rights and Responsibilities" have been distributed, primarily to recruits. This leaflet sets out in summary form the armed forces' policy of equal opportunity and the procedures for any complaints of injustice or ill-treatment.