Stephen Pound
Main Page: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)Department Debates - View all Stephen Pound's debates with the Northern Ireland Office
(12 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mike Penning
It will be a pleasure and an honour to meet the families in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. We are working very closely with the brigadier and his staff at 38 (Irish) Brigade to ensure that concerns are addressed.
Stephen Pound (Ealing North) (Lab)
Members on both sides of the House welcome the community covenant, which is a long-overdue recognition of the heroic sacrifice of our armed forces. Have the Secretary of State or the Minister given thought to naming an individual contact point for returning veterans—perhaps a community covenant champion, bearing it in mind that the Minister of State already has rather a busy job?
Mike Penning
I thank the hon. Gentleman, and my friend, for his comments. I have a very busy and a very important job, but correctly looking after those who have served their country, which the military covenant was designed to do, is exactly what I intend to do. I sit on the Prime Minister’s military covenant committee. When I was asked that question in the military covenant debate, I committed to having a round-table discussion on how we better help our servicemen and women when they leave the armed forces in Northern Ireland.