Army Policy and Secretariat
Army Headquarters
IDL 24 Blenheim Building
Marlborough Lines
Andover
Hampshire, SP11 8HJ
United Kingdom
Ref: Army/PolSec/U/A/FOI2024/01252
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx Website:
www.army.mod.uk
David Gee
request-1074941-
05 February 2024
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx Dear Mr Gee
Thank you for your email of 22 January 2024 in which you requested the following information:
Can you please tell me whether the army 'Red Book', issued to all junior soldiers when
they enlist, is also issued to their parents/guardians as a matter of routine?
Can you please send me a list of the other briefing documents given to
parents/guardians when their child enlists?
Your correspondence is being treated as a request for information under the Freedom of
Information request (the Act).
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act gives an applicant the right to access recorded
information held by public authorities at the time the request is made and does not require
public authorities to answer questions, provide explanations or give opinions, unless this is
recorded information held. I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence holds no recorded
information that would provide an answer to the questions you have asked in your request.
However, in order to be helpful in accordance with Section 16 of the Act (Advice and
Assistance), I have endeavoured to provide information which I believe is relevant to both your
questions.
I can advise that the ‘Red Book’ is not currently sent to parents and guardians of soldiers
when they enlist to the British Army. However, parents and guardians will receive the
following: Joining Instructions, Welcome Book, Social Media Policy, and a Permanent Staff
Contact Information Sheet.
If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance. Following this, if you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or
the content of this response, you can request an independent internal review by contacting
the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall,
SW1A 2HB (e-mail
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an internal
review should be made within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly
to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate
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your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
Personnel 3
Army Policy & Secretariat
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