Commentary on provisions of Act Section 13: Power of commanding officer to award service detention: Royal Marines
Section 13 gives a commanding officer the power to award a punishment of service detention to a corporal in the Royal Marines; prior to the AFA 2021 only a person of a rank beneath that of corporal in the Royal Marines could be awarded this punishment by a commanding officer. This ensures commanding officers have the same powers to punish corporals in the Royal Marines as they do in respect of Leading Hands in the Royal Navy who hold an equivalent rank. Subsection (2) amends the table of punishments available to commanding officers in section 132 of the AFA 2006 and inserts a new subsection (1A) to make this change. Subsections (3) to (6) make consequential amendments to section 133 of the AFA 2006 which sets out the limits on commanding officers’ powers to award service detention.