§ Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he intends to lay before Parliament Mr. David Hewitt's third annual report as independent assessor of military complaints procedure in Northern Ireland. [28688]
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§ Sir Patrick MayhewYesterday, I arranged for the third annual report of the independent assessor of military complaints procedures in Northern Ireland to be laid before each House of Parliament. I am grateful to the assessor for his report for 1995, a year in which the Army's role of providing support to the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been greatly reduced following the announcement by the paramilitary organisations of the cessations of military operations and which saw only 19 formal non-criminal complaints made against members of the armed forces.
The assessor notes that there is now a general acceptance that the Army's processing of complaints has been done reasonably well in difficult situations. I fully concur with this and I am pleased that the general officer commanding has been able to accept both of the assessor's recommendations.
The post of independent assessor remains important and will continue for as long as there is a need for the Army to patrol in support of the RUC in Northern Ireland.