Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he will take to ensure service leavers who have had their resettlement workshops and courses cancelled as a result of the covid-19 outbreak are able to receive their full resettlement support before leaving service.

The resettlement services provided by the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) Career Transition Partnership's (CTP) ten Resettlement Centres and Resettlement Training Centre have all now reopened and training is taking place using a 'blended' approach that uses both virtual and face to face learning, albeit social distancing requirements have significantly reduced training capacity.

In recognition of this, CTP and MOD have taken a number of actions to ensure Service leavers and veterans are not disadvantaged; Service leavers who are in their final six months of Service, or who are being medically discharged, are being prioritised and access to CTP services has been extended by three months (in addition to the existing 24 months) to 27 months post-discharge to reflect the current disruption. In addition. all three single Services have introduced measures which allow personnel currently serving to request an extension of Service of between six and twelve months or to rescind a previous request to voluntarily leave the Armed Forces during the COVID-19 outbreak.