Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his planned timetable is for full rollout of ID cards for veterans; and what assessment he has made of the merits of veterans having such cards (a) in Scotland and (b) across the UK.

The Veterans' Recognition Scheme has a two-phase rollout. Phase 1 is complete; with all Service leavers since December 2018 automatically receiving a HM Armed Forces Veteran Card as part of their discharge process. As of July 2023, there have been over 71,000 Veteran Cards issued as part of Phase 1. Phase 2 will extend access to the recognition card scheme to those who left before December 2018. Continued progress has been made towards the launch of a new digital verification service to enable all veterans to apply for the card.

With around two million veterans in the UK, we are focused on building the technology and processes to deal with large volumes of card applications accurately and securely. As production increases into next year, the Ministry of Defence will have the capacity to produce up to 50,000 cards per month and the number of cards issued will depend on demand.