12 Feb 26. Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill formed and launches call for evidence. The House of Commons has launched the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill, chaired by Clive Efford MP, which is inviting written evidence for its scrutiny of the Armed Forces Bill. The primary purpose of the bill is to renew the Armed Forces Act 2006, which serves as the basis for military law and discipline in the UK Armed Forces, for a further five years. Governments also use the Armed Forces Bill to legislate on other matters relating to the Armed Forces. For example, measures in the 2026 Bill include stablishing a new Defence Housing Service as a non-departmental public body, extending the Armed Forces Covenant and making changes to the Service Justice System aimed at better protecting victims. The Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill (2026) may go through the Bill and make amendments. It may also take formal oral and written evidence and make visits. As well as reporting the Bill to the House, the select committee may make a Special Report to the House of its findings and recommendations.
Clive Efford MP, Chair of the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill, said: “I am honoured to be chairing the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill and look forward to working with colleagues on the Committee on scrutinising the Bill.
The Committee will work at pace to explore the provisions of the Bill, such as considering the creation of the Defence Housing Service and whether the Bill’s measures go far enough to support and ensure justice for victims of service offences.
We welcome evidence that will inform the scrutiny process and our final recommendations.”
Call for evidence
The Committee welcomes written evidence submissions on any or all the provisions within the Bill, and in particular views on any of the questions below. Due to the short timetable for considering the Bill, the Committee encourages contributors to share their evidence as soon as they’re able, and no later than Monday 2 March.
Armed Forces Covenant
- What is the expected impact of the changes to the Armed Forces Covenant on serving personnel, their families and veterans?
- Does the Bill extend the scope of the Armed Forces Covenant Legal duty in an appropriate way?
o Are there policy areas which should/should not have been included?
- What is the expected impact of the changes to the Armed Forces Covenant on serving personnel, their families and veterans?
- Does the Bill extend the scope of the Armed Forces Covenant Legal duty in an appropriate way?
- Are there policy areas which should/should not have been included?
- What impact will extending the scope of the Covenant Legal Duty have on service providers’ ability to deliver on their obligations?
o What are the resource implications of expanding the Covenant?
- What will be the impact of extending the Covenant Legal Duty to the Devolved Administrations?
- How far will the Bill improve implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant?
- Defence Housing
- To what extent will the Bill’s creation of the Defence Housing Service (DHS) help to improve housing for military families?
- Are the powers and functions provided to the DHS in the Bill appropriate?
- Does the Bill create suitable arrangements for how the DHS will be governed and held accountable for the service it provides?
Service Justice System
- To what extent will the Bill’s provisions on the Service Justice System help achieve the Government’s target of halving Violence Against Women and Girls within a decade?
- What is the expected impact of granting additional powers to Service Courts to make orders relating to sexual harm, domestic abuse, and stalking?
- Do the Bill’s measures go far enough to support and ensure justice for victims of service offences?
- How will the Service Policing Protocol improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Service Justice System?
- Are the Bill’s measures relating to concurrent jurisdiction sufficient?
- Are the Bill’s measures granting additional powers to Commanding Officers appropriate?
Reserves
- To what extent will the Bill’s provisions on recall liability help achieve the Strategic Defence Review’s recommendation to increase the number of active reserves by 20% and increase UK Armed Forces Readiness?
- What will be the impact of the Bill’s measures which provide the Secretary of State with the power to authorise the call-out of the Strategic Reserve for “warlike operations”?
- Will the measures on the transfer of Service personnel between the regular and reserve forces have the desired outcome of enabling more flexible career pathing for Service personnel?
- What will be the impact of the creation of the new Reserve Forces and Cadets Association non-departmental public body?
Other issues
- Do you have comments on any other aspects of the Bill you would like to share with the Committee?
There is no requirement to address all the questions or topics above in your evidence.
The Committee welcomes written submissions from all interested parties. However, the Committee cannot intervene in individual cases and will be focusing on key issues in the Bill. Please do not include sensitive personal data in your submission, or comments which might influence ongoing court or court martial proceedings.
Each submission should be no longer than 3,000 words and contain a brief introduction about the author. Submissions should be in malleable format such as MS Word (not PDFs) with no use of colour, logos, or photos.
30 Jan 26. What is the future of warfare? Defence Committee holds session.
Evidence session: Future of warfare
From 10.30 on Tuesday 3 February 2026, Committee Room 5
Watch live or later on Parliamentlive.tv
The Defence Committee holds a session with expert witnesses exploring the future of warfare at 10.30am on Tuesday 3 February.
The session will explore the strategic context for future warfare. This will include the anticipated future trends, unpredictable variables and the implications for alliances, defence planning and the defence industry, and will draw on lessons from the past few years especially from Ukraine.
The future of the UK’s deterrence posture, the impact of technological developments (such as AI), the planned Integrated Force structure, and the vision for a ‘whole of society’ approach to Defence are likely to be examined. Members may also cover the implications for UK Defence of the recent US National Security Strategy and the new US Defense Strategy.
Witnesses:
10.30am
- Sir Hew Strachan – Wardlaw Professor of International Relations, University of St Andrews
- Air Marshal (retd) Edward Stringer CB CBE – Senior Fellow, Policy Exchange
- Dr Keith Dear – CEO and Founder, Cassi