Present

Ivor Caplin

COBSEO Executive Committee

Maj Gen Mike Shellard
Capt Alun Ryle
Brig Ian Townsend
Maj Gen Michael Regan
Air Chf Mshl Sir David Cousins
Maj Gen Peter Sheppard
Lt Col Jerome Church
Cdre Toby Elliott
Cdre Martin Macpherson
Mrs Debbie Bowles


COBSEO Advisers

Cdr Tony Herdman
Air Cdre Ed Jarron

Other Government Departments

Siobhan Larking
Alex Johnstone
Howard Thompson
Carol Gardner
Paula Kitching
William Vineall
Roy Goodacre
Kenneth Robbie

Ministry of Defence

Liz McLoughlin
Malcolm Lingwood
Alan Burnham
Jonathan Iremonger
Cdre Annette Picton
Dr Anne Braidwood
Mike Sands
Brigid Rodgers
Gerry Mulrooney
Richard Coney

Minister for Veterans

Chairman COBSEO
Vice Chairman COBSEO
TRBL
ABF
RAFBF
SSAFA Forces Help
BLESMA
Combat Stress
FPS
War Widows Association




Veterans Scotland
RAFA




ODPM
DCA
DCA
DWP
DfES
DoH
HMT
Scotland Office, DCA

DG SP Pol
D SP Pol Veterans
CE VA
D SP Pol Pensions
D Resettlement
D SP Pol Medical Advisor
DD SP Pol Veterans
A/Hd GVIU
VA
A/Hd DSSec(Sec)

Chairman

Secretariat

Mr Guy Brewer
WO Gary Gray

Veterans Affairs Secretariat
Veterans Affairs Secretariat

In Attendance

Wg Cdr Stuart Lindsay
WO1 Mick Robson
Alex Cruttwell
Rob Foreman
Emran Husain

DGMO
Veterans Affairs Secretariat
PS/Minister for Veterans
DGMO
Veterans Affairs Secretariat

Apologies

Lt Gen Anthony Palmer
Cdre Barry Bryant
Cdre Barry Leighton
Robert Leader
Maj Rosemary Warne
Peter Thomas
Georgina Campbell
Paul Woods
Gwyneth Taylor
Gwyn Owens
Alan Nicholson
Rosemary Kennedy
Chris Stewart

DCDS(Pers)
KGFS
RNA
St Dunstans
Secretary COBSEO
FCO
Home Office
DoH
LGA
DCMS
Scottish Executive
National Assembly for Wales
Northern Ireland Executive

1
Minister's Address

1. Minister for Veterans welcomed delegates to the Forum and delivered a keynote address outlining his pleasure about being appointed Minister for Veterans and his priorities for the months ahead. A copy of his address is at Enclosure 1.

2
Communications Strategy

1. Minister for Veterans invited Gerry Mulrooney from the VA to brief the Forum on the Communications Strategy.

2. Gerry thanked members of Working Group 2 for contributing to the Communications Strategy. A useful and constructive approach had been taken to develop the Strategy and this had already resulted in some notable achievements. The Strategy would be simple and practical to implement with the primary focus being on raising awareness, particularly within the veterans' community, the charitable sector, Government service providers and the general public. The time was right to begin implementing the Strategy and addressing the challenges it would present. He recommended that WG2 should be dissolved and an implementation group established in its place which would, after the addition of a member from the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), be based loosely on WG2 membership.

3. Minister for Veterans thanked Working Group 2 for their work and invited comments on the recommendation that WG 2 should be dissolved and an implementation team established to take forward the Strategy.

4. Chair COBSEO stated that the paper had been well written, the recommended processes would be simple to operate and that there was plenty of opportunity for veterans' organisations to participate. COBSEO had no difficulty with accepting the paper. The Communications Strategy was an excellent example of how the partnership process should work.

5. Decision. It was unanimously agreed that WG2 should be dissolved and that the Communications Strategy be implemented.

Gerry Mulrooney/D SP Pol Veterans

3
Review of Veterans Initiative
Working Groups

1. Minister for Veterans invited D SP Pol Veterans to brief the Forum on the Strawman Paper on the Review of Veterans Initiative Working Groups.

2. D SP Pol Veterans advised that the Working Groups had demonstrated an excellent example of cooperation between MOD, Other Government Departments, the Devolved Administrations and ex-service organisations. He further advised that many of the working groups had achieved excellent results, but that the time was right to re-focus our aims. He thanked those who had contributed to the Strawman paper and mentioned, in particular, the input from COBSEO. In summary, future work would be streamed in accordance with the 3 strands of the Veterans Initiative. An Executive Steering Group should be established to provide operational oversight and coordination of effort on behalf of the Forum, with the Veterans Affairs Secretariat providing administrative and secretariat support. The Executive Steering Group would take account of the output to date of the Working Groups, including the Kings College London (KCL) Report which would now be published in mid September 2003 to take account of the Parliamentary recess from 17^th July to 8^th September.

3. In response to the Minister for Veteran's invitation for comments on the Strawman Paper, Chair COBSEO advised that he and his committee had been fully consulted in the production of the paper and their concerns had been taken fully into account. COBSEO agreed that the KCL Needs Map had been properly focused on identifying the unmet needs of the more vulnerable veterans, but felt that this narrow base needed to be widened by future research. COBSEO were pleased to see that the work of WG8 and WG9 would be continued within the work streams. The final paper was eminently satisfactory. Sec Gen TRBL advised that the paper reflected his organisation's thinking and that they were content with the report. Veterans Scotland asked how links with the Devolved Administrations would be maintained. The Minister pointed out that at Task Force level, both the Scotland Office and the Scottish Executive would continue to be represented as would the other Devolved Administrations. There would be similar representation at Forum level Meetings between MOD and the Devolved areas of Government and this cooperation would also continue in key areas of mutual interest. DCA (Scotland Office) confirmed that there remained a constitutional remit for defence matters to remain within Westminster. Minister for Veterans advised that the MOD was alert to the need for proper involvement at all levels of Government and this was reflected in the approach taken in the Strawman Paper. The Minister congratulated D SP Pol Veterans and his team for the Strawman paper and expressed gratitude for the close cooperation provided by COBSEO.

4. Decision. It was unanimously decided that the recommendations of the Strawman paper should be implemented and that an Away Day should take place on 6 Aug 03 to discuss formulation of the way ahead.

D SP Pol Veterans

4
Any Other Business

1. Normandy Commemoration Events. Chair COBSEO asked the Minister if he could update the Forum on MOD's involvement in Commemoration of the 60^th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings.

2. Minister for Veterans advised that he had recently written to all MPs outlining MOD's commitment to the commemoration events. Participation from MOD would include 2 military bands and representation at Ministerial/Senior Armed Forces level. If MOD were invited, suitable Ministerial and Military representation would be made available for the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at St Pauls on 20 October 2004 being organised by the Normany Veterans Association. Minister further advised that the Home Office had recently announced that free passports would be made available to those Veterans travelling to commemorative events as part of an organised trip and that the main celebrations were being organised by the French Authorities, with British interests being represented through our Military Attache in Paris. Minister advised that whilst he hoped that a member of the Royal Family would attend, this was a matter for the Royal Household to decide. MOD officials were in discussion with Ferry companies on concessionary travel arrangements for those attending commemorative events. It was hoped to make an announcement on the outcome shortly. Minister for Veterans summed up by saying that there was lots of interest in the 60^th Anniversary and he would be personally attending some of the events in his capacity as Minister for Veterans. However, events would not be of the same scale as for the 50^th anniversary and would be of a somewhat lower key

3. Controller ABF asked whether the commemorative service at St Paul's Cathedral would be officially recognised by MOD. Minister for Veterans advised that an offer of help and assistance had been made to the Normandy Veterans Association and that a response was awaited.

4. Sec Gen TRBL advised that this was likely to be a milestone and the last significant anniversary that the veterans themselves would be able to attend. It was important, therefore, that it received as high a profile as possible. He urged Government to match the commitment of other nations such as the US, who would be making a lot of the event. He concluded by saying that the 60th Anniversary should be played up, not down.

5. Minister for Veterans confirmed that the plans for developing educational material were aimed at raising the awareness of young people to provide a bridge between the 60th and 75th anniversaries so that young people could carry forward the torch of remembrance and commemoration. He emphasised his personal commitment to the 04/05 commemorative events.

6. Suez Canal Medal. Chair COBSEO advised that the recent announcement that a GSM would be awarded for Service in the Suez Canal Zone had been well received as it had been an irritation for many years. He asked if the Minister could say any more about the timescales for the recipients to receive their awards. Minister for Veterans advised that the Department was still awaiting the HD Committee recommendations which would then be subject to approval by HM Queen. Once approval was given, MOD would ask for medals to be minted. However, many checks would be needed before the medals could be issued. Minister hoped the first medals would be with recipients in time for this year's Remembrance Sunday. However, full issue was likely to take 2 years, as the Department had estimated that there were potentially up to 200,000 recipients.

7. Challenge Fund. CE Combat Stress asked what procedures were in place for making a case for Challenge Fund expenditure?

8. DG SP Pol advised that she would be writing to Chair COBSEO outlining procedures for suggesting ideas for expenditure. Minister for Veterans gave more detail on his earlier announcement of £2M being made available for the Challenge Fund by explaining that in the current year £500K had been allocated and £750K had been allocated for each of the FYs 04/05 and 05/06.

NVA/DSSec(Sec)

D SP Pol Vets

DSSec(Sec)

DG SP Pol

5
Closing Remarks

1. Minister for Veterans thanked everybody for attending the Extraordinary meeting of the Veterans Forum.