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Deepcut Review

Answer

As explained in the Government’s response to the Deepcut review, armed guarding by soldiers and trainees under the age of 18 is restricted by reference to age, qualification in weapons handling, supervision and stage of training. No phase 1 trainees undertake armed guarding and no under-18s may undertake armed guarding alone, even if they are fully trained and qualified in weapons handling. We recognise that Mr Blake indicated in his report that 18 is the appropriate minimum age for armed guard duty, but we would not want to rule out the possibility of two, appropriately trained and qualified, 17 year-olds undertaking armed guard duty together, as may be the case on occasion under current policy, as (particularly for the Army) weapon handling and guard duty are an important aspect of service life. We fully recognise, as Mr Blake pointed out in his report, the special responsibilities that come with arming under-18s and we therefore aim to take appropriate precautions relating to their safety and well-being. These include: tighter procedures to identify those at risk of self-harm and to deny them access to means; the need for weapons training and assessment before an individual is qualified to be armed; the responsibility of the chain of command to know each individual and to be confident that they are sufficiently mature and sensible to carry a weapon; and the requirement for each guard to be under the command of a guard commander.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

6435; 683 c123WA

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Army Training Young people Safety Weapons Reviews Deepcut Barracks

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk