§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recommendations were made by the Board of Inquiry into the death of Sean Benton concerning security instructions and orders governing armed guard duties at Deepcut barracks; and what action has subsequently been taken on the implementation of each of these recommendations. [162267]
§ Mr. IngramDuring its investigation the Board of Inquiry (BOI) highlighted a number of concerns, largely relating to security orders and procedures within the Guardroom. Direction was given for the following actions to be taken, and these were implemented by the end of August 1995
review all security and guard procedures to ensure that they are relevant and in accordance with the current regulations and instructions;review all instructions within the Guardroom, and in particular instructions given to the guard and other duty personnel;issue clear orders relating to the issue of weapons and ammunition and the safeguarding of such weapons while they are in an individuals charge;review procedures for the posting of relief guards.In its concluding report, the BOI also made the following recommendations, all of which have been implemented:
adequate instructions should exist for all sentry posts;reliefs should be posted by the Guard Commander, Guard 2IC or Regimental Police Duty staff;a standardized Guard Commanders Order to the guard format should be adopted;guards should be clearly told that they are not to handover their weapons or ammunition unless specifically ordered to do so by a member of the Regimental Police Staff, Guard Commander or Guard 2IC;orders should be clearly displayed in the Guardroom;the Guard and Guard Reserve should be paraded as two separate contingents;guards should be rotated between posts during their period of duty thereby safeguarding against complacency.