The Ministry of Defence is creating a Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce as part of efforts to better support women working in the sector.
It said the initiative is designed to “drive cultural improvements” and will be led by minister for veterans and people Alistair Carns.
The MoD and Armed Forces have faced a litany of concerns over sexual harassment and bullying in recent years. Last summer the department launched a programme of work to set “clear standards and expectations of behaviour” among staff after a series of reports shone light on rates of bullying and sexual harassment.
Last month, Carns said the MoD was “deeply sorry” for its failure to protect 19-year-old Royal Artillery gunner Jaysley-Louise Beck, who took her own life in 2021 after being sexually assaulted by a senior officer and persistently harassed by her line manager.
The inquest into the soldier’s death found there had been systematic failings in relation to both investigating the sexual assault and taking action over the “prolonged and intolerable harassment”, which was known about by senior colleagues.
The MoD said the VAWG Taskforce would be led by Carns “to cohere and drive the work to change culture from the heart of the department”.
It said the minister would be supported by a network of regional champions who will help raise awareness and tackle violence against women and girls across the military.
There will also be a “Defence Voices Panel” challenge group made up of service personnel and civil servants to “provide honest feedback and lived experiences”.
Other changes due to be set out today include the creation of a specialist tri-service team for taking the most serious complaints, such as bullying, discrimination and harassment, outside the “single service” chain of command.
The MoD said the new team will be independent of the existing Army, Navy and Air Force leadership structures. It said the move would “provide individuals with greater confidence and help ensure that the most serious complaints are dealt with quickly, fairly and in a standardised way across the Armed Forces”.
Carns said he was “personally committed” to ensuring that the government does everything within its power to “root out unacceptable behaviour and ensure that the Armed Forces is a place where everyone can thrive”.
“Women in the Armed Forces play a vital role in keeping our nation safe,” he said. “This is not just a matter of basic justice and equality, it is essential to military effectiveness.
“Our people have spoken, and we have listened. We are moving at pace to create a new Tri-Service Complaints team to take the most serious complaints out of the chain of single-service command for the first time and to launch a central taskforce to give this issue the attention and focus it deserves.”
The MoD said the VAWG Taskforce would include people trained on topics including domestic violence and sexual offending. They will use a network of multidisciplinary experts to support Armed Forces personnel, including healthcare providers, social workers, and HR advisors and will link into the Victim Witness Care Unit.
In a speech to staff at the MoD’s Main Building headquarters, shortly after Labour took power at last year’s general election, defence secretary John Healey acknowledged there were “serious problems” to address in defence.
He pledged: “We’ll have a culture that values all, and we’ll have zero tolerance for any abuse, in the military or the civil service.”