Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of employment preparedness and support programmes offered to military personnel prior to and immediately post-service.

The Ministry of Defence provides comprehensive resettlement support for people leaving the Armed Forces to help them make the transition to civilian life.

The long-established Career Transition Partnership (CTP) provides guidance to Service leavers in their transition from military to civilian life through a range of career and employment support services including skills development workshops, seminars, resettlement training advice, vocational training courses, career consultancy, one-to-one sessions and job finding support. A bespoke service is provided for the most vulnerable leavers through the CTP resettlement pathway.?This function is called CTP Assist and delivers an individualised, needs-based service to those?Service personnel who face the greatest barriers to employment as a consequence of their medical conditions.?This comprehensive employment support is made available to all Service personnel subject to medical discharge in order to maximise their?successful transition to civilian life.?All military personnel can access CTP two years before leaving and within two years of leaving; beyond that point they can access The Forces Employment Charity (RFEA) which provides support for life.

Statistics on the estimated employment outcomes for ex-Service personnel who used the services provided by CTP can be accessed at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/career-transition-partnership-ex-service-personnel-employment-outcomes-statistics-index. Of the 2018-19 UK Regular Service leavers who used a billable CTP service and reported their employment outcomes six months after leaving service, 86 per cent were employed.

As part of the ten-year vision articulated in the Strategy for our Veterans, in October 2019 the Ministry of Defence introduced a ‘Defence Holistic Transition’ policy, which brings together a wide range of support for Service leavers and their families in their transition to civilian life including help with life's basic needs such as registering with a doctor or a dentist, or much more intensive help for those with complex needs (including housing, budgeting, debt, wellbeing and children’s education). ‘Defence Transition Services’ (DTS) was established at the same time, to support those Service leavers who face the greatest challenges to making a successful transition to civilian life, including those who are medically discharged. The full-spectrum service is available to all Service leavers exiting the Armed Forces and is based on the needs of the individual, providing the specific support they may need and interventions to ensure issues are resolved. This support extends for two years after discharge and longer if necessary.