This means that the parliament annually determines the actual strength of the Armed Forces and defines the framework for the employment of appropriate funds. Furthermore, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces exercises parliamentary control and is responsible for the safeguarding of the basic human rights of military personnel. When creating the military legislation, lawmakers provided an extensive set of legal rules and regulations governing the internal order of the armed forces. The constitutional requirements are given concrete form by the Legal Status of Military Personnel Act, which is supplemented by a variety of other codes, regulations and laws. As extremely progressive decision, the constitutional lawmakers inserted an article into the Basic Law, which states, that the basic human rights of military personnel may be restricted only to the extent being absolutely necessary to ensure the functioning of the armed forces.
Independent courts ensure that the armed forces comply with the law.
A basic principle is that the members of the armed forces, like all other citizens, are subject to ordinary jurisdiction and also enjoy the guarantee of legal protection and the right to have recourse to the courts. There can be no independent military jurisdiction in the classic sense - i.e. jurisdiction as the product of the command authority of military leaders. While the basic principles enshrined in the German model apply to all NATO nations, there are subtle differences in both the nature and extent of parliamentary involvement in the process. Nevertheless, as servants supporting the foreign and security policy of the state, the UK Armed Forces come under the clear authority of the elected government of the day, via the Prime Minister and a Cabinet of elected ministers, including that of the Secretary of State for Defence. The Defence Secretary, in turn, controls a Ministry of Defence made up of both military and civilian officials.