Have your say on the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill

Aims of the Bill

The main purpose of the Bill is to provide greater legal protections to Armed Forces personnel and veterans serving on military operations overseas. It would not provide blanket immunity from prosecution for offences committed during overseas operations but seeks to raise the threshold for the prosecution of alleged offences.

There are three main facets to the Bill:

• It would create what has been termed a “triple lock”, to give personnel and veterans greater certainty that the pressures placed upon them during overseas operations would be taken into account when prosecution decisions for alleged historical offences are made. That lock would consist of: a presumption against prosecution for alleged offences committed more than five years ago; a requirement for prosecutors to give weight to certain matters when reaching decisions in such cases; a requirement to obtain the consent of the Attorney General, or the Advocate General in Northern Ireland, before any prosecution can proceed.
• It would introduce time limits on bringing civil claims in connection with overseas operations.
• It would place a duty on the Government to consider derogating from the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to significant overseas military operations.

The Bill would not apply to operations in the United Kingdom, including events that occurred in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The Government has made clear its intention to introduce separate legislation to address legacy issues in Northern Ireland.

The provisions on presumption against prosecution and the limitations on bringing civil claims could not be applied retrospectively to legal proceedings that are already underway.

The Government has stated its belief that the Bill’s provisions are consistent with the UK’s obligations under domestic and international law and that “The measures in the Bill are a proportionate solution to the problem, and strike an appropriate balance between victims’ rights and access to justice on the one hand, and fairness to those who defend this country on the other”.

Follow the progress of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill

The Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill 2019–21 was introduced to the House of Commons on 18 March 2020. Second reading was held on 23 September 2020.

• Bills before Parliament: Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill 2019–21
• Read Explanatory Notes: Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill 2019–21
• House of Commons Library Briefing Paper

Oral evidence sessions are scheduled to be held on 6 and 8 October 2020.

Guidance on submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration and possibly reflect it in an amendment. The order in which amendments are taken in Committee will be available in due course under Selection of Amendments on the Bill publications page. Once the Committee has dealt with an amendment it will not revisit it.

The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee will be on Tuesday 6 October 2020 and the Committee is scheduled to report by Thursday 22 October 2020. However, please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 22 October 2020. You are strongly advised to submit your written evidence as soon as possible.

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk.

Further guidance on submitting written evidence can be found here.

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