This briefing provides information in support of the House of Lords consideration of the Armed Forces Bill.
Armed Forces Bill 2015–16: Briefing for Lords Stages (299KB PDF)
This House of Lords Library briefing provides an overview of the main provisions of the Armed Forces Bill and a summary of the Bill’s stages in the House of Commons.
The Armed Forces Bill would renew the Armed Forces Act 2006 (itself renewed by the Armed Forces Act 2011) which provides the legal basis for the existence of the Armed Forces as disciplined bodies. This legislation would otherwise expire at the end of 2016. In addition, the Bill would update elements of the Armed Forces’ disciplinary system and extend the powers of Ministry of Defence firefighters.
The Bill contains provisions relating to the following matters, as summarised in the Explanatory Notes to the Bill:
Clauses concerned with repeals relating to discharge for homosexual acts and war pensions committees were added during the Bill’s passage through the House of Commons.
Readers may also be interested in the following briefing on the Bill as it was first introduced in the House of Commons in September 2015:
Armed Forces Bill 2015–16: Briefing for Lords Stages (299KB PDF)
In January 2026, the government announced a new scheme to support urgent repairs and essential improvements to listed places of worship. Called the ‘Places of worship renewal fund for England’, it replaced the ‘Listed places of worship grant scheme’ which had run since 2001. This briefing provides an overview of both schemes, the government’s reasoning for the change and the reaction of stakeholders.
The National Security (State Threats) Bill would create new powers for the home secretary to designate bodies engaged in state threat activity, equivalent to the proscription of terrorist organisations under the Terrorism Act 2000. The bill would create three new offences associated with designation of supporting, assisting, or receiving material benefit from a designated body. These offences would carry sentences of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.
There have been big differences in expenditure across different forms of healthcare for a number of years. In 2024/25, spending on acute care was £74.7bn, compared to £14.5bn on primary care and £13.8bn on community services. Both the 2024 Labour Party manifesto and the subsequent 10 year health plan for England contained an emphasis on shifting towards more care being delivered in local communities rather than in acute settings, dubbed a ‘neighbourhood health service’.
