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Armed Forces Bill

moved Amendment No. 183: After Clause 354, insert the following new clause- ““MANUAL OF MILITARY LAW (1) On the enactment of this Act the Secretary of State shall cause to be prepared and publish a document to be known as the Manual of Military Law (““the Manual””). (2) The Manual shall include- (a) an index of the provisions of this Act and of the other statutes and conventions in force as listed in accordance with this subsection, (b) the terms of the Geneva Conventions, (c) the terms of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (c. 17), (d) the terms of the Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42), (e) a schedule of all other statutes in force relating to Her Majesty's forces, (f) a schedule of all statutory instruments in force relating to Her Majesty's forces, (g) formal guidance on the circumstances in which the Special Investigations units of the service police should be instructed to undertake investigations and the procedure in such investigations, (h) a definitive statement on the duties and powers of the service prosecuting authorities and of their supervision in their exercise of their duties and powers, (i) such other information relating to the application of this Act as the Secretary of State or the Judge Advocate may consider as calculated to assist the proper understanding of the applicable law as it relates to members of Her Majesty's forces or others within the ambit of this Act and those advising them. (3) The Manual shall be prepared and published in such form and manner as best enables all information that it contains to be up-dated as appropriate.”” The noble Lord said: This is very much a probing amendment. It seeks to impose statutory requirements on the manual of military law. Such a manual already exists and is both long-established and in frequent use. Commanders in the field are under obvious pressure and great strain even before taking into account their legal obligations. They need to take prompt and well informed decisions. It is therefore essential that they have a single and complete document that allows them to understand their responsibility and which gives appropriate guidance. It should be in language that one can read quickly and is easy to understand. The Government argued in another place that this clause would remove ““flexibility”” from this document. However, it is essential that those in the heat of battle and under intense media scrutiny can refer to it with full confidence. It is right that we prescribe its contents to include all the various sources of law that affect our troops. It is equally important that there is provision for updating the manual when necessary. The amendment allows all the ““flexibility”” needed in language, length and form of the document. But for the manual to serve its purpose it needs to be authoritative. Its value to commanders and their advisers is that they can rely on it completely. It is essential that the accused and the accuser in any case will have had reference to the same authoritative document. Finally, it is important to remember that this manual is the document that the Armed Forces will use and refer to, not the Bill we are discussing in Committee. I beg to move.