Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will introduce a medal for (a) seriously injured and (b) medically retired service personnel.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Service personnel who are injured and evacuated from a medal earning operational deployment are awarded the relevant Campaign, Operational, or General Service medal regardless of whether or not they have served the required number of days for the medal.
While, at this time, the Ministry of Defence has no plans to recommend the introduction of a new medal for Service personnel who are seriously injured or medically discharged from Service for non-operational reasons, there is always the opportunity to look into this.
It is important to note that the Department cannot unilaterally introduce such a medal since this would require the agreement of the cross-Government Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals, and ultimately The Sovereign.