Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing the date for the award of the Wider Service Medal from 2018 to 2011.

The Wider Service Medal was introduced to provide medallic recognition for operational activity that delivers a significant and direct contribution to UK objectives in rigorous circumstances, but not necessarily in roles exposed to physical risk.

The date of 11 December 2018 was determined as a clearly defined point in time when Her Late Majesty The Queen approved the initial concept of the Wider Service Medal. At that time there was no intention to include any retrospection, so using December 2018 as the start date for the Medal is considered a balanced approach that recognises the original discussions and Her Late Majesty’s initial approval.

The Department has no plans to review the date of December 2018.