Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure research of veteran's mental health in Northern Ireland is undertaken.

The Government is committed to ensuring that veterans in Northern Ireland and across the UK, have easy access to support when and where they need it.

In 2025, we awarded £300,000 to the Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS) to deliver their ‘Improving NI Veterans Mental Health’ project, to help veterans and their families access mental health support and manage complex mental health conditions such as PTSD. This follows a DMWS pilot providing support for mental and physical health needs, such as PTSD, anxiety and depression, musculoskeletal problems and bereavement. Such projects provide valuable insight to improve our understanding of veterans’ health needs locally and complement existing provision by MOD Veterans Services NI, which provides direct support including psychological therapies, psychiatric assessment and physiotherapy.

As part of the UK-wide VALOUR initiative, we recently announced that Brooke House Health and Well-being Centre has been awarded £1 million to develop a VALOUR Recognised Centre (VRC) in Northern Ireland. The centre will provide trauma-informed health, welfare, housing and employment support to veterans through a six counties hub and spoke model.

VALOUR staff will maintain and evolve existing stakeholder networks within NI, improving collaboration, coordination, and access to services for veterans, enabling data-driven policy and service development to ensure that services are designed to meet local needs.

These initiatives build on the work of the 11 Veterans’ Champions in councils across Northern Ireland and the role of the Northern Ireland Veterans’ Commissioner.