The House of Commons Defence Committee's report of its inquiry into the work of the Service Complaints Commissioner for the Armed Forces (SCC) will be published at 0001 hrs (BST) on Tuesday 26 March. Written evidence to the inquiry, including a memorandum submitted by BAFF, is already available at the link below.

BAFF called for the SCC's powers and role to be increased to those of a full Armed Forces Ombudsman responsible to Parliament. BAFF also highlighted perceptions - especially in the current atmosphere of redundancy and uncertainty - that submitting a service complaint may not be in the best interests of the potential complainant.

UPDATE 26 Feb 2013: Defence Committee backs BAFF call for Armed Forces Ombudsman.

Supreme Court hearings began today (Mon 18 Feb) in three long legal battles by dead soldiers' families against the Ministry of Defence.

The Herald (Plymouth) reports that a benefits cut "that could hit the pockets of thousands of frontline troops" has been blasted by a city MP. From the newspaper:

According to the Telegraph, the Defence Secretary has been accused of "control freakery" by trying to ban MPs from military bases and meetings with the Armed Forces.

This seems to be linked to an earlier row when Angus Robertson MP obtained through an FOI request a copy of the Department's DIN on 'Contact with Parliamentarians' which replaced, but allegedly goes further than, the previous 2010DIN05-55 Visits to Defence establishments.