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Written Question
Armed Forces: Coronavirus
Wednesday 25th May 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the armed forces have faced (a) consequential penalties, (b) minor administrative action and (c) other forms of warnings or counselling as a result of breaching covid-19 regulations.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Afghanistan: Refugees
Tuesday 24th May 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme received a decision in each month since August 2020; and what proportion of those decisions were approvals.

Answered by James Heappey

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him to Question 415 on 18 May 2022.


Written Question
Afghanistan: Refugees
Wednesday 18th May 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme received a decision in each month since August 2020; and what proportion of those decisions were approvals.

Answered by James Heappey

The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme was launched on 1 April 2021 and has been one of the most generous relocation programmes in the world.

Due to constraints on accessible data, the information requested is only available from October 2021 onwards and can be found in the table below:

Month

Decisions Made

October 2021

706

November 2021

1,450

December 2021

803

January 2022

477

February 2022

409

March 2022

451

April 2022

799

May 2022 (up to 12 May)

234

Of all the decisions made over this period, 8.4% were approved.


Written Question
Afghanistan: Refugees
Wednesday 18th May 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme are awaiting decision.

Answered by James Heappey

As of 13 May 2022, there are 15,177 applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) Scheme awaiting an initial decision.

Large volumes of applicants continue to be reviewed, many from applicants with no connection to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and thus any realistic chance of being eligible for ARAP. The MOD continues to resource the process for ARAP but the process is slowed by the volume of ineligible applicants.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Social Security Benefits
Tuesday 30th November 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on fully exempting military compensation from financial assessments for social security benefits.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

This is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and it would not be appropriate for the Ministry of Defence to seek to interfere or intervene in a non-Defence matter. Issues relating to eligibility for social security benefits and exemptions from financial assessments are the responsibility of the DWP. As such, there have been no discussions on this issue between the Secretary of State for Defence and his counterpart in the DWP.


Written Question
Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all evidence from the former Department of Social Security is preserved when deciding upon Armed Forces Compensation Scheme cases.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The Department of Social Security was replaced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2001. Any evidence provided by the DWP, its predecessor organisations or any other third party as part of the decision-making process for Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) claims is retained on the case file and stored at the Ministry of Defence record keeping facility in accordance with standard record management policies. As all AFCS decisions carry the right of appeal, the complete case file would be retrieved to undertake a reconsideration or appeal.


Written Question
Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking along with the Department for Work and Pensions to improve the (a) application process and (b) time taken to consider appeals to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The Ministry of Defence has not discussed these matters with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the DWP has no responsibility for the War Pension Scheme or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Defence Business Service is embarking on a £40 million transformation programme to digitise the existing paper-based processes and to create a single customer portal. This will also include an ability to complete an on-line application in order to further enhance the customer experience whilst also reducing processing times.


Written Question
Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) application process and (b) time taken for pay-outs from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The Ministry of Defence has not discussed these matters with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the DWP has no responsibility for the War Pension Scheme or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Defence Business Service is embarking on a £40 million transformation programme to digitise the existing paper-based processes and to create a single customer portal. This will also include an ability to complete an on-line application in order to further enhance the customer experience whilst also reducing processing times.


Written Question
War Pensions: Applications
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking along with Department for Work and Pensions to improve the (a) application process for and (b) time taken to determine war pensions.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The Ministry of Defence has not discussed these matters with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the DWP has no responsibility for the War Pension Scheme or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Defence Business Service is embarking on a £40 million transformation programme to digitise the existing paper-based processes and to create a single customer portal. This will also include an ability to complete an on-line application in order to further enhance the customer experience whilst also reducing processing times.


Written Question
Veterans: Pensions
Monday 22nd November 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to resolve the matter of frozen overseas pensions for veterans; and what progress he has made on reciprocal agreements with (a) Commonwealth (b) other nations on that matter.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

It is longstanding Government policy that the UK State Pension is not uprated annually for those not resident in the UK, unless the pensioner resides in a country where there is a legal requirement to uprate, such as when a reciprocal social security agreement is in place.

This is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who are also responsible for social security agreements with other countries, and it would not be appropriate for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to seek to interfere or intervene in a non-Defence matter. This is not a veteran-specific issue, with veterans living overseas in the same position as non-veterans, and, therefore, this does not represent a disadvantage under the Armed Forces Covenant to such veterans on account of their Service. As such, no discussions have taken place between the MOD and DWP concerning this matter.

When a member of the Armed Forces reaches their retirement age, they receive one of the most generous pensions available in the UK. This fairly reflects the unique sacrifice they have provided their country throughout their career. Armed Forces pensions are entirely separate from the State Pension and there is no comparable provision to freeze Armed Forces pensions. Armed Forces pensions are claimed and paid in the same way no matter where a veteran chooses to live and uprated in-line with the consumer price index.