Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 against British soldiers in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan the Government subsequently found to be spurious in each year since 2009-10.

Mike Penning

Legal actions citing the Human Rights Act, whether judicial reviews or personal injury claims, are normally brought against the Secretary of State for Defence rather than against individual Service personnel (on the basis that the Ministry of Defence is vicariously liable for their acts). The Courts allow or dismiss claims in whole or in part. There have been approximately 1,400 such judicial review claims and 1,000 personal injury claims stemming from our military oprations in Iraq and Afgahnistan. The vast majority of them have not yet been heard, as they are queued behind a small number of lead cases. It is the view of the Government, based on the findings of the Al-Sweady public inquiry and other evidence, that large numbers of these claims are likely to be exaggerated or spurious.