Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many allegations of sexual assault and rape were made (1) by, and (2) against, members of the armed forces in the past year.

Earl Howe

All allegations of sexual assault and rape made by or against members of the Armed Forces are taken very seriously by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

This information is not held in the requested format. Only allegations of sexual assault and rape made by a member of the Armed Forces against another member of the Armed Forces (or Person Subject to Service Law) are investigated by the Service Police. Allegations of such offences made by civilians in the UK are usually investigated by the appropriate civilian police force, while allegations made by civilians overseas will be investigated in accordance with the appropriate agreement in place between the UK and that country. The MOD does not hold information on investigations conducted by civilian police forces.

In 2015 the Service Police investigated 20 cases of rape and 49 cases of sexual assault. Of the 20 allegations of rape, 19 cases were against 22 members of the Armed Forces; the status of the suspect in one case is unidentified. Eight of the victims of these alleged offences were members of the Armed Forces.

Of the 49 allegations of sexual assault, 46 cases were against 49 members of the Armed Forces; in one case the suspect was a civilian subject to Service Law and the status of the suspects in two cases is unidentified. 49 of the victims of these alleged offences were members of the Armed Forces.