Jack Lopresti
Main Page: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)Department Debates - View all Jack Lopresti's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(9 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)
10. What progress he has made on strengthening the armed forces covenant.
Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)
12. What progress he has made on strengthening the armed forces covenant.
Mike Weatherley (Hove) (Con)
14. What progress he has made on strengthening the armed forces covenant.
Anna Soubry
We have invested an extra £7.4 million in precisely that sort of work. I pay tribute to Stockton-on-Tees borough council, which—along with other councils in the north-east—has been doing outstanding work, and whose chief executive has written to me. Councils are working across the piece, bringing together all the relevant bodies and people, and delivering good mental health services to veterans in particular.
Jack Lopresti
Is there a follow-up system to ensure that when people leave the armed forces they do not fall by the wayside when it comes to medical provision?
Anna Soubry
It is critical that we get that right. At present, such services are delivered only at a local level. Many councils are involved, including those in the Greater Manchester combined authority, which signed the covenant at the end of December. All those councils are doing outstanding work which they are determined to continue, on a completely cross-party basis. They are working with a number of parties, bringing in health authorities, hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups. What is beginning to happen in councils must now be replicated throughout the United Kingdom.