Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that, in the process of a veteran making a claim under the War Pension Scheme or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and then appealing that claim, the Veterans UK medical assessor who makes a decision on the initial claim and the Veterans UK medical assessor who makes a decision on the appeal are not the same person.

Veterans UK Medical Advisors do not make decisions on appeals. Appeals are decided by the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Tribunal in England and Wales, or the respective Pensions Appeal Tribunals in Scotland and Northern Ireland. These are judicial bodies independent of the Ministry of Defence. Each tribunal has an independent medical member as part of the decision-making panel.