# The Armed Forces Commissioner (Service Complaints Investigations) Regulations 2026, Regulation 9: Reports of investigation: preparation and confidentiality

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) The Commissioner may send a copy of a draft of their report under section 340L(1) on an investigation to the complainant and any person within regulation 8(1)(a) to (d).
(2) If the Commissioner receives any comment from such a person on the draft report, they may refer to those comments in the final report and state in that report their response to those comments.
(3) Clerical mistakes in the report and errors arising in the report from an accidental slip or omission may be corrected by the Commissioner by certificate under their hand.
(4) The Commissioner must send a copy of the report to—
(a) the subject, if any, of the service complaint; and
(b) any person who is, in the opinion of the Commissioner, the subject of criticism in the report’s findings or recommendations in relation to that person’s character or professional reputation.
(5) The Commissioner must send any certificate under paragraph (3) to the Defence Council, the complainant and any person to whom a copy of the report must be sent under paragraph (4).
(6) Where the Commissioner sends a copy of the report or a draft of the report to any person (whether under a duty to do so or not), the Commissioner may impose any obligation of confidentiality on that person which the Commissioner considers appropriate and lawful in the circumstances.
(7) For the purposes of paragraph (6), the grounds on which the Commissioner may decide that an obligation of confidentiality is appropriate include the ground that disclosure would be—
(a) against the interests of national security; or
(b) might jeopardise the safety of any person.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/24/regulation/9 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-commissioner-service-complaints-investigations-regulations-2026/regulation-9
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.