Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the merits of expanding existing NHS England funding for (a) national Armed Forces programmes and (b) staff training programmes on Armed Forces community awareness to include the social care sector.

Currently, no such assessment has been made. The National Health Service has several training programmes such as the veteran-aware Trust accreditation scheme, the veteran-friendly GP accreditation scheme and the National Armed Forces Training and Education Programme. These are focussed on the provision of NHS commissioned services.

Social care is commissioned by local authorities. The Department is committed to ensuring the social care workforce has the skills and awareness needed to support all those who draw on care, including members of the Armed Forces community. The Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS) provides funding to help adult social care employers meet the cost of training and qualifications for their workforce.