Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tobias Ellwood and Alistair Carmichael

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ellwood]

I put my hands up and say that we still need to work further on this—I made that clear in the debate as well—but the covenant is moving forward; we are holding other Government Departments to account, and I hope that will be made clearer when we report back on our findings next year.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

6. When he last discussed the Government’s obligations for the mental health of veterans and the Armed Forces Covenant with the Secretary of State for Health.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Tobias Ellwood)]

We have regular discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care and, indeed, the Secretary of State for Health. As we just touched on, it is an important requirement that the health matters and the concerns of both veterans and armed forces personnel are met. That is not a direct responsibility of the MOD; it is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care and we are working ever more closely with it.

[Mr Carmichael]

Further to the issue raised by the hon. Member for St Albans (Mrs Main), a UK veterans’ assistance charity estimates that the number of armed forces veterans living homeless at present is in the region of 13,000. That is a figure that should give us all pause for thought, and should, I would suggest, cause us to unite politically rather to divide. Will the Minister speak to the health service, the councils and other Government Departments to get something done on this?

[Mr Ellwood]

rose—