Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of granting tax-free status to the Survivors' Guaranteed Income Payment.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Department has no current plans to discuss with the Chancellor of the Exchequer making the Survivors’ Guaranteed Income Payment (SGIP) tax free. The SGIP is paid to dependents who may have other sources of income and therefore it is taken into account for tax purposes.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the (a) First Sea Lord, (b) Chief of the General Staff and (c) Chief of the Air Staff on tackling gaps in transition services for people who are medically discharged from the armed forces.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides post-transition support services beyond six months for those medically discharged from the Armed Forces. The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) provides resettlement and career transition services to all Regular Armed Forces Service leavers as part of their resettlement process, helping to make the transition from military to civilian life as smooth and successful as possible. The Core Resettlement Programme is afforded to all medically discharged Service leavers irrespective of time served.
A bespoke service called CTP Assist is provided for the most vulnerable leavers, and delivers an individualised, needs-based service to those Service personnel who face the greatest barriers to employment because of their medical condition. This comprehensive employment support is made available to all those subject to medical discharge to maximise their successful transition to civilian life. Employment support is available through the CTP two years prior to discharge and for two years afterwards.
Welfare support from the Veterans Welfare Service (VWS) is also available to all Regular and Reserve Service personnel and their families via the Defence Transition Referral Protocol. All those who are medically discharged are contacted by VWS, on behalf of MOD, to provide contact details should they experience need after discharge and want to re-engage with VWS at a subsequent point in time. VWS supports service leavers, veterans, and their families by providing ongoing support, guidance and information with issues that will endure beyond discharge. VWS clients are supported according to their needs and preferences, with support remaining in place for as long as required.
As the Minister responsible for Defence People and Families, I regularly meet with The First Sea Lord, Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Air Staff to discuss topics that fall within my portfolio and tackle prevalent issues.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending post-service transition support services for people medically discharged from the armed forces from six months to two years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides post-transition support services beyond six months for those medically discharged from the Armed Forces. The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) provides resettlement and career transition services to all Regular Armed Forces Service leavers as part of their resettlement process, helping to make the transition from military to civilian life as smooth and successful as possible. The Core Resettlement Programme is afforded to all medically discharged Service leavers irrespective of time served.
A bespoke service called CTP Assist is provided for the most vulnerable leavers, and delivers an individualised, needs-based service to those Service personnel who face the greatest barriers to employment because of their medical condition. This comprehensive employment support is made available to all those subject to medical discharge to maximise their successful transition to civilian life. Employment support is available through the CTP two years prior to discharge and for two years afterwards.
Welfare support from the Veterans Welfare Service (VWS) is also available to all Regular and Reserve Service personnel and their families via the Defence Transition Referral Protocol. All those who are medically discharged are contacted by VWS, on behalf of MOD, to provide contact details should they experience need after discharge and want to re-engage with VWS at a subsequent point in time. VWS supports service leavers, veterans, and their families by providing ongoing support, guidance and information with issues that will endure beyond discharge. VWS clients are supported according to their needs and preferences, with support remaining in place for as long as required.
As the Minister responsible for Defence People and Families, I regularly meet with The First Sea Lord, Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Air Staff to discuss topics that fall within my portfolio and tackle prevalent issues.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made on implementation of Project Cortisone; and when he plans that it will be fully operational.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Programme CORTISONE has now provided the ability to access archived healthcare records and users are able to interrogate operational healthcare data in a faster, more accurate and timely manner. New digital triage and remote video consultation capabilities have been prioritised for delivery in addition to e-rostering and caseload management systems by the end of 2025.
The current estimate for the Full Operating Capability is December 2027.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the devolved administrations on extending the remit of Op Courage outside England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Health is devolved across the four nations of the United Kingdom and the services available therefore may differ across each part of the UK. The Government has not had any discussions with devolved administrations on the potential introduction of Op COURAGE outside England.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) diary appointments, (b) planned visits and (c) other ministerial activities of the Cabinet Office Minister of State (Minister without Portfolio), the Rt hon. Member for Tatton, for the next six months.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many spouses of deceased armed forces personnel have been taxed on their Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
There are several types of support available to spouses of deceased armed forces personnel through the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. The tax treatment depends on the type of support.
The Government has published statistics on claims and awards made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme which can be found in the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) annual bulletin published 6 July 2023. However, the Government does not collect the data on how many spouses have been taxed on payments made through the ACFS because the tax position depends on the individual’s circumstances.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many war widows had their war pensions wrongly classed as taxable income in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and how many times his Department has been asked to rectify their records accordingly in this time period.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I can confirm that the War Widow Pension has not been taxable since 1979 as per Section 639 of the Income Tax (earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Any tax wrongly applied to the payment would be as a result of a tax code provided by HMRC, which is responsible for correcting any tax records.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to provide compensation to all those who were affected by the ban on LGBT people in the armed forces.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans' Affairs jointly commissioned the LGBT veterans independent review to better understand the impacts and implications of the pre-2000 policy relating to homosexual people serving in HM Armed Forces. The review underlines Defence's unwavering commitment to understanding how best to support its veteran and LGBT community.
The review was published on 19 July 2023 and among its recommendations is one which suggests a financial award. Defence has accepted the recommendation, noting that such schemes take time to establish. Further detail on eligibility will be included in the implementation plan, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the comments by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs in The Guardian and other media on 4 July 2023 resulted in complaints to his Department.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Complaints, from both internal and external parties, can be received at many levels within the Department, and at varying degrees of formality, which are not collated centrally. The exercise required to retrieve this information would incur disproportionate cost.