Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish a schedule of examples based on previous cases where the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill would allow service personnel and their families to claim compensation for medical conditions suffered as a result of their service, alongside cases where knowledge of those conditions six years prior to a claim would disallow its submission.

The Bill introduces an absolute limit of six years for claims for personal injury or death arising from overseas military operations. It remains the case that the time limit can be calculated from either the date of the incident, or from the date of knowledge. A claimant's date of knowledge is the date on which they first had knowledge that their injury was significant and attributable to a negligent act or omission by an identifiable defendant. Outside of the time limit, the courts will not be able to allow claims.

This measure will not prevent Service personnel and veterans, or their families, from bringing claims against the MOD in connection with overseas operations within a reasonable timeframe, which most have done historically anyway. As set out in the Impact Assessment for the Bill, published on 17 September, we estimate the vast majority (94 per cent) of relevant claims by Service personnel and veterans are already brought within six years. We expect that a proportion of the claims brought after six years in the past would be brought sooner in the future to avoid being caught by the new absolute time limit for claims.

We won't comment on individual cases that may have been outside of the time limit, had this Bill been in effect. However, to help minimise the risk that individuals run out of time to make a claim, we will ensure that everyone in the Armed Forces Community who might be impacted by these new measures is fully aware of this legislation and the time available for them to make a claim.