Armed Forces (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 2:02 pm on 1 February 2013.

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Photo of Mark Francois Mark Francois The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence 2:02, 1 February 2013

I see that the hon. Gentleman is nodding, so I hope I have that right.

Further on in section 343B, subsection (4) gives the meaning of the term “relevant family member”, but effectively allows the Secretary of State to interpret it as best fits the context. The Bill, however, replaces that discretion, for this purpose, by specifying that it should cover “any relative”. If I have understood the hon. Gentleman’s intentions correctly—I hope I have—he wishes the new provision to cover a large group of people, including all former members of the armed forces and all relatives of current or former service personnel. Offences against them would be treated more seriously, if motivated by hostility to service people.