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Armed Forces Bill

moved Amendment No. 147: Page 117, line 19, after ““have”” insert ““particular”” The noble Lord said: I shall not detain noble Lords for long. In moving Amendment No. 147 I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 151 and 154 in this grouping. While we welcome in the Bill the identification of the welfare needs of the under-18s, presumably the welfare of all offenders is a cause for concern. My amendment seeks to make that clear by providing that we must have ““particular”” regard to the welfare of those under 18. Amendment No. 151 addresses reductions in rank in Clause 247. Here we are looking to identify what happens when reductions are made between different ranks, in particular thinking of the severe effects when someone of the rank of sergeant is reduced by one level. His or her social life changes; he moves from the sergeants’ mess to that of more junior ranks, and there will be a change in accommodation that is a very visible downgrading. Often it may be appropriate to impose such a change in rank, but we should ensure that the Bill makes it clear that rank changes are affected by which ranks we are talking about. Finally, Amendment No. 154 addresses the responsibilities for explaining the sentence set out in Clause 251. This is by way of a probing amendment to see what the rationale is for the Secretary of State having the power to override a sensible set of rules. It is difficult to think under what circumstances such an order would need to be made, any my amendment seeks to find out why the Ministry of Defence thinks it necessary to have this power. I beg to move.