Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Defence

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts
Monday 4th November 2013

(11 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Mark Francois Portrait Mr Francois
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As my hon. Friend—again, a former RAF officer—will be aware, we already work with allies in a number of ways to fill that gap, but I assure him that we will look at the issue seriously in the wider context of ISTAR and of the SDSR.

Duncan Hames Portrait Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
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6. What steps he is taking to improve the employment prospects of service leavers.

Anna Soubry Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Anna Soubry)
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We attach great importance to assisting service leavers in making a successful transition from service life into civilian employment. A recent defence statistics study shows that about 85% of the service leavers in 2011-12 who have a known employment outcome are employed within six months of leaving the armed forces. But we are not complacent, and we continue to review whether there are areas we should improve. Indeed, Lord Ashcroft, the Prime Minister’s special representative on veterans’ transition, is leading a review of the provisions that are in place.

Duncan Hames Portrait Duncan Hames
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I am very glad to hear that. Service leavers undoubtedly have much to offer employers. Wiltshire has more than 15,000 military personnel and the number is rising. Will the Minister look favourably on Swindon and Wiltshire local enterprise partnership’s city deal bid, which will help service leavers to gain the qualifications they need and ensure that they are not disadvantaged compared with the civilian population in seeking work?

Anna Soubry Portrait Anna Soubry
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Absolutely, and I am more than happy to congratulate my hon. Friend and all others who champion such schemes. This is another reason why we attach so much importance to the corporate covenant, of which I wish to give one quick example. National Express has signed up to the corporate covenant—we urge many other companies, of whatever size, to do so —and will guarantee anyone leaving our armed forces an automatic interview for any job vacancy. That is a good example of why the corporate covenant is to be welcomed.