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Armed Forces Bill

My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Garden, for his comments on the amendment. I tabled it as I have witnessed the problems that it seeks to address. I am aware of situations where servicemen have been required to resign or have been discharged and where the redress of grievance procedure is not fit for purpose. I hope that the Minister will inform me in writing—he is extremely reliable in that regard—although the Bill may by then have completed its passage, how many redress of grievance claims have been made in respect of discharge or requirement to resign a commission, how long each has continued and how many are outstanding. Frankly, I am not happy about the increasing use of administrative action to get round the problems that we have created by making it harder to exercise summary jurisdiction. However, that is not something that we want to put in the Bill. We have a lot still to do. For the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 39 to 48 not moved.] Clause 155 [Constitution of the Court Martial]: