Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-05-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what dates reviews have been carried out of his Department’s Complaints Protocol written in 2005; and what alterations have been made to that protocol as a result of each such review.

Mr Julian Brazier

The Ministry of Defence’s procedures when handling complaints from members of the general public is governed by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman who issue government departments with guidance and advice on protocols when dealing with complaints from the general public, more specifically guidance around response times and handling. Since 2005, the Ministry of Defence has updated its internal instructions (Defence Internal Notice) in 2010 and 2015, both updates did not change internal protocols but made changes to points of contact and departmental structures where required.

The Ministry of Defence also operates procedures by which civil servants and Service personnel can make complaints. These are governed by separate policies respectively. For Service personnel the independent Service Complaints Ombudsman was established in 2015. Further information can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/armed-forces-service-complaints-process .