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And they revealed that, despite attempts of root and branch reform by senior commanders, women are still reluctant to formally complain to senior officers about harassment and bullying. It emerges as a battalion belonging to one of Britain’s most prestigious regiments was told they could no longer take part in a Nato mission after soldiers filmed sex romps at their base.
Though no laws were broken the head of the British Army, General Sir Patrick Sanders, said he had decided to stop 3 Para’s deployment over fears that the decision by eight soldiers to invite a woman to Merville barracks in Colchester and film their sexual antics contravened the Army “values and standards” and “could also be construed to denigrate women”.
News of the high level of dissatisfaction among serving women will come as a blow to military chiefs after they launched root-and-branch reforms aimed at ensuring diversity and equality among all ranks.
It also bodes badly for efforts to plug a gaping retention gap.
The Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey is an annual questionnaire, sent to a sample of almost 30,000 serving UK military personnel from the three Services, to assess levels of satisfaction with various aspects of service life.
The 2022 survey, whose findings have just been released by the Ministry ion Defence, found that “14% of all female personnel reported being subject to sexual harassment in a Service environment in the last 12 months.”
Levels of bullying within the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force reported by the survey’s respondents were also worryingly high.
“Over one in ten (12%) of personnel report that they have been subject to bullying, discrimination or harassment in the last 12 months,” the survey found.
Few of those surveyed, however, said that they would be willing to make a formal complaint. “The majority of personnel who have been subject to bullying, discrimination or harassment do not make a complaint (93%).
“The main reasons why personnel do not make a formal complaint continue to be: not believing anything would be done if a complaint was made (56%) and believing that it might adversely affect their career (51%).”
Crucially, the report added: “Of those who made a formal complaint, seven in ten are dissatisfied with the outcome.”
It was only in 1999, following the suspected suicides of two recruits in Deepcut Barracks, that the Army first established its six values and three standards: Courage, Discipline, Respect for Others, Integrity, Loyalty Selfless Commitment and Lawful, Acceptable Behaviour and Professional.
And two years ago it established a new Diversity and Inclusion Directorate to ensure employees ‘feel authentic in the workplace’, that people’s differences are ‘valued’ and that ‘everyone’s needs are considered’.
Partly, these changes are due to having to accommodate the needs Generation Z recruits (born after 1997) which “represent particular challenges to an organisation that is based around rank, hierarchy and command authority”.
Other steps have included installing a 24/7 Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination (BHD) hotline, staffed by trained advisors who are independent of the Armed Forces.
Speaking last night Gen Sir Richard Barrons, who headed Joint Force Command until 2016, said: “The Army has been trying to confront two major challenges – representing the society it is fighting for., and dealing with diversity and discrimination.
“They have genuinely made huge efforts and there is relatively little progress. That’s because you’re having to constantly restart this conversation with different people. Also, the army reflects the communities it recruits from, so it’s not just an army problem. It’s a societal one.
“The only way forward is to keep going and to try harder. And it must be completely uncompromising about it, which is what Gen Sanders has done.”
An MoD Spokesperson said: “We are clear that all forms of unacceptable behaviour, including sexual harassment and bullying, have no place in our Armed Forces and anyone convicted of a sexual offence will be discharged. We are improving reporting mechanisms for sexual offences so personnel feel safe in raising issues and confident allegations will be acted on.”
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