Following President Hollande's acceptance of the Pêcheur Report on the consequences of the ECHR judgements of 2 October, the French National Assembly's Defence Committee will be taking evidence on Wed 21 January from allied defence attachés, including a Captain RN from the United Kingdom, about freedom of association and the right to organise for military personnel. UPDATE: Video of attachés' hearing now available HERE. Video of Tuesday's hearing with Pêcheur Report author available HERE. Transcript of evidence by UK Naval Attaché now available HERE.

For those who missed it, today's General Election Debate hosted by Forces TV and the Royal United Service Institution is now available to view online here:

In today's Prime Minister's Questions, the PM replied to a question about the Military Covenant from SNP Parliamentary Group Leader, Angus Robertson MP. Mr Cameron said that "We are the first Government to put the military covenant properly into law and to deliver almost every year big improvements in the military covenant ... and we report on it every year." So in what way is the Covenant in fact legally enforceable?

The Liberal Democrat Party has for some years supported the cause of representation for armed forces personnel, and formally adopted it as a policy at its 2013 conference, so some British Armed Forces Federation members were surprised to note that it was left out of the party's General Election manifesto. BAFF took this up with the Lib Dems, and has now received confirmation from its defence spokesman that representation remains an official party policy.

Political support for the "right of association" for armed forces personnel has increased in the 8 years since the launch of the British Armed Forces Federation, but remains patchy. We cover in a separate article a new message of support from the Liberal Democrats, and the position of the outgoing coalition government. But only the Scottish National Party (SNP) has made a General Election manifesto commitment to representation for armed forces personnel.

With polling day almost upon us, BAFF has received several enquiries about the attitude of the competing political parties to the principle of a representative professional staff association for the armed forces. Based on responses to our representations during the last Parliament about statutory recognition of that principle, we can confirm that it has official support from the following parties:

The information below is for anyone who had service administrative action taken against them as a result of a police caution between Dec 2008 and Sep 2011, and has left the forces. You may have grounds for a service complaint, and may wish to seek legal advice if administrative action had serious consequences for you. Members can consult BAFF.

Linda Gilroy MP today (7 Sep 2009) met with Defence Minister Kevan Jones MP, accompanied by representatives of the British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF).

They discussed ways in which BAFF can engage with the Ministry of Defence.

The coroner's inquest is under way into the tragic deaths of Cpl James Dunsby, Trooper Edward Maher and L/Cpl Craig Roberts, experienced army reservists who took part in an SAS selection test on Pen Y Fan on July 13, 2013. While we await the outcome of the inquest in due course, it is difficult at this stage to agree with previous suggestions that investigations into these deaths have been excessive.

Following a change to the Referendum Bill currently being considered in the Scottish Parliament, the 16 and 17 year old children of relevant service families outwith Scotland WILL be able to vote in the Scottish independence referendum on 18 September, 2014.

The change will apply to eligible teenagers living with a relevant service voter parent in England, Wales or Northern Ireland - not only those overseas.

It appears however that service children will only be allowed to register and vote in the referendum if their service parent is themselves registered to vote in Scotland as a service voter.