Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what additional support the Government is providing to Armed Forces charities to help increase the capacity and delivery of (a) mental health and (b) suicide prevention initiatives for veterans.

This government will continue to prioritise supporting veterans with their mental health needs. There is a range of statutory support for veterans across the UK, including the bespoke mental health service for veterans in England: Op COURAGE.

Charities continue to play a vital role in helping veterans with their mental health, and I pay tribute to them for all they do. The Government provided £20m in 2021 to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust to support Service charities comprising the £10m annual allocation plus extra £10m announced in the 2021 Budget. In addition, we provided £5m through the Afghanistan Veterans’ Fund. These funds included provision for initiatives to improve capacity in mental health and wellbeing provision, and suicide prevention.