To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 20th June 2006, Official Report, column 1708W, on the Army Continuous Attitude Survey, what the contents were of question 39c in the Army Continuous Attitude Survey September to December 2005; and why this question was not printed in the copy which was placed in the Library on 19 April 2006. (80698)

The Serving Personnel Continuous Attitude Survey (CAS) is a management information tool that is used to assess and monitor the attitudes of serving officers and soldiers over time. Its findings inform the development of service personnel strategy and policies. In the ninth Serving Personnel (SP9) survey, which was distributed in September 2005, question 66 was removed and replaced with question 39c, an open-ended question which asks “If within the last 12 months you have suffered unfair treatment, discrimination, harassment and/or bullying and you have chosen not to complain please explain why?”. The analysis of open-ended questions is complex and not contained in the Technical Annex of the CAS Report, which is placed in the Library of the House.

The analysis of question 39c is summarised as follows. It gives the number of comments made as well as a more detailed breakdown of the negative comments, which are used to identify areas for improvement. Overall, a total of 90 officers and 252 soldiers commented, which equates to 8 per cent. and 16 per cent. respectively of those who responded to the questionnaire.

Number and type of comments made by respondents:

Breakdown of negative comments made by category: