Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a single tri-service policy in relation to medical discharge.

There are no current plans to introduce a single tri-Service medical discharge policy. Medical discharge policy is delegated to the single Services to afford each branch of the Armed Forces the necessary flexibility to respond effectively to the unique and varying environments in which their people are employed.

While this does mean variations between Services exist, the Ministry of Defence accepts there are circumstances where the single Services have different policies in place for good reason, and it is important the flexibility to vary policy is maintained in order for the single Services to respond effectively to such circumstances.

A single tri-Service policy, while providing overall consistency, would restrict our Armed Forces ability to tailor such policy to meet their needs.