10 Feb 17. Defence Committee Report. Close IHAT this year and immediately dismiss remaining weak cases, say Defence Committee
The Report by the Defence sub-Committee, published by the Defence Committee, gives its verdict on the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT).
The Report concludes that IHAT has become a seemingly unstoppable self-perpetuating machine, deaf to the concerns of the armed forces, blind to their needs, and profligate with its own resources.
It therefore recommends that IHAT’s caseload is handed over to Service police, with the support of civilian police, as soon as possible.
Over 3,500 allegations of abuse were taken up by IHAT, many of which were not supported by credible evidence. The Report found a range of failings in the conduct of the investigations into those claims alongside a MoD support package which was fragmented, inaccessible and largely unknown. The Report concludes that because of this, those under investigation have suffered unacceptable stress, have had their lives put on hold and their careers damaged.
The overall impact of this has been the erosion of the bonds of trust between those who serve, and their civilian masters.
The Report supports the Government’s commitment to derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights in the event of future military operations abroad in order to stop unnecessary and damaging litigation. It also presents a set of principles which should be adhered to by any future inquiry into the conduct of the UK’s armed forces on operations.
Johnny Mercer MP, Chair of the sub-Committee inquiry, said, “Throughout this process there has been an almost total disregard of the welfare of soldiers and their families. We need to hold our people in the highest esteem and a repeat of IHAT must never be allowed to happen again. The MoD must take responsibility for allowing this to happen. They could have discriminated between credible and non-credible cases yet they lacked the will to do so. They need to get on and immediately dismiss those remaining cases that are based on obviously weak evidence.”
07 Feb 17. Defence Committee. The Defence Sub Committee will publish their report into MoD support for former and serving personnel subject to judicial processes. Embargoes sent to you Friday 09.00.
06 Feb 17. Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. Billion pound fund lacks political leadership and accountability, says parliamentary Committee on national security strategy. The annual budget for the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund is worth more than £1bn of taxpayers’ money. Launched in April 2015, it offers a more ambitious cross-government approach to tackling the causes and effects of conflict and instability in countries of strategic importance to the United Kingdom. However, a report published today by the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy says the objectives, operation and achievements of the Fund are ‘opaque’. Conflict, Stability and Security Fund – published by a joint Committee of Lords and MPs including Select Committee Chairs – hoped to examine the rationale, working and results of the Fund, which can be accessed by Government departments and agencies to commission projects intended to prevent conflict, stabilise countries or regions, and respond to international crises. But Government failed to provide the Committee with sufficient evidence to judge whether the Fund was reaching its potential. Without access to the National Security Council strategies for the Fund, information about the programmes and projects it has funded and a breakdown of expenditure, the Committee cannot provide parliamentary accountability for taxpayers’ money spent via the CSSF.
Chair of the Committee, Dame Margaret Beckett, commented: “There is some evidence that the CSSF is doing a better job than its predecessor, the Conflict Pool. With multi-year programming, it is a flexible way of delivering support to fragile countries of strategic importance