Support for UK Armed Forces and Veterans

Jack Lopresti Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this debate. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Mr Donaldson) on securing this debate, which is apt, given the announcements earlier this week about redundancies in the armed forces, as the coalition Government try to close the £38 billion shortfall in the Ministry of Defence budget.

Veterans’ issues are very important in my Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency, which is not only one of the homes of the Royal Navy—of which it is very proud—but a home for the Royal Marines and for 3 Commando Brigade, which will go to Afghanistan in just a few weeks. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all going there, to wish them the best of luck and to wish them Godspeed in their safe return—without any loss of life and hopefully without injuries.

I know that no Conservative Members were elected in the hope that we would cut our armed forces or make people redundant. I am sure that applies to Opposition Members as well. I was horrified by the recent announcement about the sacking of service personnel by e-mail, but I am delighted by and greatly welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment that nobody in 3 Commando Brigade will be made redundant while away.

We must recognise that today’s servicemen and women are tomorrow’s veterans. They put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and we need to ensure that we look after them afterwards. Many people of my age—I had a father who served and gained a distinguished service cross in the Narvik campaign in the 1940s—see veterans as people who either served in the second world war or in Korea or, for that matter, in the Falklands. It is interesting to note that next year we will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. I would be grateful if the Minister told us what we are going to do to remember that anniversary—next year as well—because many people from Plymouth were certainly affected by the conflict. I add a strong plea that the Minister has heard before—I am going to repeat it—for Plymouth to be the centre for the national commemoration for veterans weekend in 2012. We should remember that Plymouth is not Portsmouth and that we are not 20 minutes away from Bristol.

This picture of white-haired veterans is not exactly appropriate for today. Today, a lot of young people in their late 20s and early 30s are going to be our veterans. Their time saving our country and putting their lives on the line is just one part of a series of careers that they might have during the course of their time on this earth.

I welcome the initiative of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education to recruit some veterans into the education system to help with teaching. I remember being at prep school as a child of eight. One of my masters was regularly carted off to hospital because of the gas he had inhaled in the first world war. We had nothing but total support for him, and his authority in the classroom ensured that we were brought up in a very disciplined way. If I may say so, I certainly hope that our service personnel who become teachers will act in the same way to put some authority and discipline back into the classroom—especially in some of our inner-city schools. I am delighted that Plymouth university is in the process of sponsoring a marine academy in the city. I hope it will look at ways of recruiting some of the ex-service personnel to teach there, which would be most helpful. Will the Minister spell out how this plan might work?

The other big issues faced by our veterans relate to mental health. Last autumn, the Prime Minister gave a commitment that the Government would implement the “Fighting Fit” report by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison). That has been welcomed by several charities, including Combat Stress and Plymouth Mind. Will my right hon. Friend the Minister update us on progress on ensuring that the actions recommended in the report are delivered? Will he confirm whether those actions will be fully funded by the national health service? When my right hon. Friend the Minister is next in Plymouth, perhaps he will join me in visiting the Hasler company in HMS Drake, as they do great work to deal with complex issues, including issues of mental health.

We have talked a great deal about veterans who have been full-time soldiers, sailors and airmen, but reservists are occasionally overlooked. My hon. Friend the Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Jack Lopresti)—he will look horrified that I am referring to him again—who was a reservist with 29 Commando before he entered the House, regularly reminds me that reservists sometimes have to go back to homes and communities where no one has any idea what they have been up to.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is kind to mention my service, but I want to put it on record that it was very modest. May I echo his comments about 3 Commando Brigade, and especially about the men from 29 Commando who are now going back out to Helmand? I hope that they have a great tour and come back safely, and I wish I was going with them.

[Oliver Colvile]

I thank my hon. Friend. We should ensure that the mechanisms and infrastructure are in place to look after reservists once they come back.

Last week, on a course, I was approached by the Royal British Legion, which told me that it would be enormously helpful if the Government made reservists’ details available to charities. To overcome data protection restrictions, perhaps reservists should be asked to tick a box that would allow their details to be shared with such excellent charities. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Minister will be willing to take that on board. Will he ensure that, as they say in the Navy, it is “Anchors aweigh”, and that we see action on this matter?

--- Later in debate ---

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

I shall be as brief as possible, because I know that we are short of time.

I believe that when the most important and prominent duty of a Government is the defence of the realm, it is equally important that all Governments value the contributions and sacrifices that our servicemen and women make in carrying out this most vital task. When our armed forces personnel on operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere face paying the ultimate price in the protection of our country, its people and our freedoms and way of life, we should ask them to do so only in the knowledge that they are properly equipped for the task and will be trained to the highest level, and that when they retire—or should they be wounded or, indeed, killed—they or their families will be provided for in recognition of, and admiration for, the sacrifices that they make. That is the minimum that we must do to support our armed forces and veterans, and to me those sentiments are the basis of the military covenant.

The idea, or basic principle, behind support for service personnel and veterans is not new, but a long-standing and time-honoured tradition in this country and elsewhere. In ancient Rome, for example, veterans were given land and a farm to provide a living in recognition of and thanks for their service to their country. Here, in 1593, a statute of Elizabeth I provided for a weekly tax on parishes so that disabled Army veterans

“should at their return be relieved and rewarded, to the end that they may reap the fruit of their good deservings, and others may be encouraged to perform the like endeavours.”

Our commitment to the welfare and aftercare of our armed service personnel must be unwavering, and I believe all parties share that goal. We can best honour that commitment through the steps the Government are taking to restore the military covenant. The status quo is probably best described in the relevant House of Commons Library research paper, which states:

“The Military Covenant is an unwritten social and moral commitment between the State and Service personnel in the Armed Forces that has developed through long-standing convention and customs. Although it currently has no legal basis it implies that in return for the sacrifices that Service personnel make, the State has an obligation to recognise that contribution and retains a long term duty of care toward Service personnel and their families.”

The previous Administration reneged on this covenant. It gives me no pleasure to say that, as I acknowledge that they did some good work—especially the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) when he was a Minister. They did not adequately equip our troops for the most hostile of conflicts, they neglected the welfare of our service families, injured personnel and veterans, and they left a £38 billion black hole in the Ministry of Defence budget at a time of war.

Some Opposition Members look back at the previous Government’s time in office through rose-tinted spectacles and view it as a period of utopian plenty. Whenever the shocking neglect of the huge Budget deficit is mentioned they are in complete denial. The previous Administration have an appalling record in respect of honouring the covenant and failing to supply enough helicopters, vehicles and kit that are fit for purpose in the most hostile of environments. I saw that for myself in Afghanistan, and I firmly believe the coalition Government are trying to correct the balance through the current Armed Forces Bill. Clause 2 of the Bill does more to honour the armed forces covenant and to support our troops and veterans than the last Administration achieved in 13 years. The text of the tri-service military covenant will be published in the spring, and legislation could be used to facilitate it if that is necessary.

Let us examine the Bill’s measures and what it will achieve in restoring the military covenant. If we accept that the military covenant is a moral commitment and a statement of principles rather than a list of rules and regulations and a job-creation scheme for lawyers, then the Bill goes a long way towards enshrining the notion of the covenant in law. The Bill provides a statutory recognition of the covenant for the first time. It ensures that Parliament and the Government of the day are forced to continue to address this most important issue. It demands in law that every year the Secretary of State of the day must present to Parliament an armed forces covenant report on the effect of membership of the armed forces on service personnel, their dependants and veterans in the UK. Furthermore, the effects in respect of health care, education and housing are specifically listed, as is the examination of others fields that the Secretary of State may determine.

It is right for the military covenant to be broadly defined. The Opposition fail to understand that the clause provides this Government and future Administrations with the flexibility to be able not to lose focus on the real issues. It allows us to achieve real welfare improvements for our service personnel and veterans. I have heard from military charities and serving men and women that there is no desire for a bureaucratic and over-prescriptive definition of the covenant. Warfare, conflicts and conditions can change rapidly, as events in the past couple of weeks demonstrate. This Bill will allow the military covenant to evolve in this and future Parliaments as our services change and adapt to meet the demands they are asked to face.

This House is in full agreement that we must provide for our servicemen and women and our veterans. I believe the current Armed Forces Bill puts us back on the right path towards honouring the sacrifices that our armed forces make in the protection of our freedoms and way of life, and upholding the moral covenant that exists between the state and those who do so much to defend it.