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Armed Forces Bill

moved Amendment No. 182: After Clause 354, insert the following new clause- ““SPECIAL PROVISION FOR SERVICE PERSONNEL UNDER THE AGE OF 18 (1) Service personnel under the age of 18 are not permitted to serve in combat areas. (2) Service personnel under the age of 18 are not permitted to carry out guarding duty with live weapons. (3) Service personnel under the age of 17 are to be accommodated in dedicated locations, and particular attention is to be given to their care.”” The noble Lord said: The amendment deals with how those under 18 should be handled by the military. I have raised this matter in various parts of the Bill. In this case, we are trying to ensure that the rules for how members of the Armed Forces under 18 are treated are clear and in the Bill. The amendment simply puts into effect the recommendations of Nicholas Blake QC. The first ensures that there are no circumstances in which under-18 year-olds should be put into combat zones. The second ensures that, when they are outside combat zones, they do not find themselves in a combat situation with live weapons. The third is a direct recommendation for the special arrangements needed for under-17s. I was disappointed by the Ministry of Defence’s response to the Blake report in these areas. It is full of ““if circumstances permit””, or ““it will take time to provide special facilities””. We are talking about child soldiers. The Blake report made it quite clear that Nicholas Blake saw no justification on recruiting and manning grounds. The only rationale that allowed him to support the involvement of under-18 year-olds was that the education and training the military gave them was rather better than the rest of the education system provides. He said that when the state education system comes up to the standard of the military, it will be time to look again at whether we need under-18s. We must be clear—given the international rules on the use of child soldiers and the fact that we do not approve of it in other nations—that the rules are there, that we will follow them and there will not be exceptions. I beg to move.