Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what formal agreements have been established with (a) the Department for Work and Pensions, (b) NHS England and (c) local housing authorities on the (i) acceptance and (ii) integration of the Digital Veterans ID card for priority service access; what technical standards will be used to ensure interoperability; and when it will become operational for those services.

The Digital Veteran Card will be launched this year as the first digital credential in the GOV.UK Wallet. The Ministry of Defence (MOD), in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has robust governance arrangements in place overseeing its effective design and delivery, including ethical and security considerations.

The Digital Veteran Card continues this Government’s commitment to veterans, giving them swifter access to help and support available to them - from help with health, housing and employment to access to retail offers. It is in addition to the existing physical Veteran Card already held by over 250,000 former Service personnel across the country. The digital card will be entirely optional for our veterans.

It may also be helpful to further explain that the Digital Veteran Card is being developed jointly by the MOD and the Government Digital Service (GDS). It will use GOV.UK One Login which already allows users to securely prove their identity online to access Government services. The Digital Veteran Card will be saved securely in the GOV.UK Wallet, allowing veterans to show it to organisations on their smartphones and prove their eligibility to access services.

The GOV.UK Wallet follows industry standards for security, and further technical standards will be adhered to in order to ensure interoperability. The Veteran Card credential will enable a veteran to prove they are a veteran to an organisation without disclosing unnecessary information. This can reduce the sensitive information organisations might otherwise collect and therefore avoid unnecessary data sharing.

The security of our veterans, including those who served in sensitive operations, remains paramount. In designing the Veteran Card, The MOD has engaged across the sector, including veteran charities, associations and with veterans themselves. This shaped how the service is designed and what information is held on the Veteran Card; it will not include sensitive service history.