Army Rumour Service

Register a free account today to join our community
Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site, connect with other members through your own private inbox and will receive smaller adverts!

Defence Committee take evidence on the 2016 Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report

DOT

Old Salt
From 11.30am on Tuesday 17 January, the House of Commons Defence Select Committee will take evidence on a range of policy areas encompassed within the 2016 Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report.

The Committee will hear evidence from:
  • Mark Lancaster TD VR MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence Personnel and Veterans
  • Helen Helliwell, Head of Service Personnel Support, Ministry of Defence
Purpose of the session

The Armed Forces Act 2011 requires the Government to present an annual report to Parliament on the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant. The 2016 report was published on 15 December. This session will be an opportunity for the Committee to examine Covenant implementation and delivery, new and existing commitments, and challenges identified by the External Members of the Covenant Reference Group and other external commentators.

You can watch the session from 11.30am on Parliament TV.

 
The Defence Committee has published its report on the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report 2016.

The report gives recommendations to ensure that implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant continues to be driven from the centre of government. It recommends the creation of a new Ministerial post within the Cabinet Office with responsibility for the Covenant, along with a dedicated unit to monitor implementation and delivery.

Key findings

The Report, which examines a range of themes emerging from the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report 2016, recognises the breadth of policy areas that the Covenant encompasses, and that many of them, such as healthcare and education, lie outside of the remit of the Ministry of Defence.

The principles which underlie the Armed Forces Covenant are applicable across society, and the Committee feels that a new ministerial post should reflect this.

The Report also addresses a number of policy areas raised in the 2016 Report where further action is required:
  • Healthcare – Better communication and awareness of the priority services that exist for veterans in the NHS need to be fostered among clinicians and among veterans themselves. The Government must continue to pursue measures which will embed the principles underlying the Covenant in the healthcare system. Specifically on veterans’ mental health, the particular barriers to care that continue to exist must be removed and targets should be introduced to bring down delays in referral and treatment.
  • Education and local services – Mobile Service families are still encountering difficulties in securing school places for their children outside of the normal admissions cycle. More widely, as the footprint of the Defence Estate becomes more concentrated, a thorough analysis of the capacity of local services to support increased numbers of Service personnel and their families must be undertaken.
  • Accommodation - There is some doubt whether improvements in repair and maintenance services have been sustained, and a range of independent surveys and assessments suggest that Service personnel are still dissatisfied with their accommodation. The Department should continue to consider its options with respect to the National Prime Contractor, CarillionAmey. Lessons should be learned from the problems which accompanied the implementation of the Combined Accommodation Assessment Scheme. Service personnel and their families are awaiting further announcements on the Future Accommodation Model with a sense of apprehension, so it is particularly important that the Department continues to consult and engage on this matter.
  • The Corporate Covenant and the Community Covenant – Both the Corporate and Community Covenants have great potential to develop the links between the Armed Forces Community and other sectors of society. Greater engagement is necessary for the Department to develop a more reciprocal relationship with business and to ensure that an increasing number of local authorities have the core infrastructure necessary to implement the Covenant at a local level.

For more information, and to read the report in full, visit the Parliament website.

As a general election will be taking place on Thursday 8 June, Parliament will dissolve at 00.01 on Wednesday 3 May. The Defence Committee's future programme of work will be decided in the new Parliament.
 
Top