Veterans Issues
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Veterans forum
Speech by Ivor Caplin - MP Minister
for Veterans, Veterans Forum 15 July 2003
Introduction
The most valuable legacy that I have inherited is this strong partnership
between the Government and the Veterans Organisations. It is clearly a special
relationship and I want to maintain it and further develop it by strengthening
the ties between us. I have already had a number of bilateral meetings and
I aim to meet more of you as diary commitments permit. I think it is fair
to say that I had a useful introductory discussion with your chairman 10
days ago. I must say that from a personal perspective I have enjoyed each
of these meetings and have been grateful for the patience taken to raise
my awareness and understanding of the issues that are of concern to you.
I would like to make it clear that I am a great believer in Open Government
and that my door is always open to my partners on the Veterans Initiative.
Having come from the whips office, I have a good understanding of the workings
of Parliament and I intend that I will use this knowledge to the advantage
of veterans. My aim is to continue the work to increase understanding of
veterans issues across Government and to use that understanding to achieve
tangible results. I take my responsibility as Veterans Champion very seriously.
I want the Veterans Task Force - made up of Ministers from across Government
- to take a forward looking approach and have already taken the decision
that the next scheduled meeting in January 2004 should take place at the
Cabinet Office rather than at the MOD to emphasise the cross-Government nature
of this important meeting.
Other Government Departments and the Devolved Administrations already play
an important and positive role in veterans business, but I am sure that all
concerned recognise that more can be done. I have already begun discussing
wider issues such as veteran's health and care for the elderly with my fellow
Task Force members and made them aware that I want Task Force meetings to
be a three-line Whip. I will also be taking my own cross-Government responsibilities
seriously by my attendance and contributions about veterans affairs.
Disregards
I am also well aware that whatever we agree in Whitehall or regionally, it
will only have an effect if local authorities are properly engaged. A good
example of this, is the option given to Local Authorities to disregard war
pensions when means testing for Housing Benefit and Council Tax purposes.
I am pleased to be able to say that Hove has always made 100% use of the
disregard and I was instrumental in 1996 in ensuring this policy was transferred
through to the new city authority of Brighton and Hove. I will discuss with
the British Legion and others how we can help persuade the remaining 16 Local
Authorities in England who do not make full use of the disregard to do so.
International
I am well aware that I have a lot to learn and want to take the opportunity
to share the knowledge and experience of our partners at home as well as
our allies overseas, particularly those represented on the Senior International
Forum, which met formally in London at the end of last year. I am pleased
to be able to tell you that I am expecting an invitation for an official
visit this autumn to meet my counter-part in the United Sates, Anthony Principi,
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Dr Robert Roswell, the Under Secretary
for Health. In the last few days I have also started speaking to European
Union partners about how they operate as well.
I should add here that I was pleased to learn of plans to give representatives
of the ex-Service organisations a greater role in the Senior International
Forum itself, perhaps by giving joint presentations with Government representatives
on the arrangements for supporting veterans in each of the participating
countries. I hope to have arrangements along these lines agreed in time for
the next Senior International Forum early next year.
Purpose of the meeting
The purpose of today's meeting is to agree new arrangements to take forward
the work of the Veterans Forum and to agree a strategy for communicating
the aims and details of the work of the Veterans Initiative to stakeholders
at all levels of government and the voluntary sector as well as to the main
and potential intended beneficiaries - the veterans.
On the first of these issues, I would like to pay tribute to the contributions
made by all concerned to the cooperative working groups which the new arrangements
are intended to replace. A lot of progress was made, but there was general
agreement earlier this year that the arrangements should be reviewed and
if possible improved. Key aims of the new arrangements are to give participants
more direct influence over the areas of work to be pursued and to make working
methods more flexible and more responsive to emerging issues. In other words,
I want key stakeholders to have more say in what we do in the way of collaborative
work and I then want us to 'work smarter'. I hope that we can all agree that
such aims must underpin the whole approach to the Veterans Initiative.
Communications strategy
The other paper on the agenda is also a crucial one. A clear communications
strategy is essential to ensure that all potential deliverers and recipients
of the support available to veterans know what is happening. Much has been
done already through the existing Veterans Agency Freephone Helpline and
Website, but we need to do more in a coordinated and planned way.
I have already realised that the work tackled by the Veterans Initiative
is ground breaking and innovative and I want to make it clear that I will
continue to be very open to your ideas. I would like you to feel that as
far as ideas are concerned, nothing is off limits. That said, I want to make
it clear that I am not in the business of making open-ended or empty promises
and I have been reassured to find that your expectations of what more the
Government could do in this area are realistic.
Challenge Fund
Of course, the bottom line is whether the main stakeholders are prepared
to lead from the top and put their money where their mouth is. And the answer
here is yes.
Yes, because I know I have your support; I also have the support of my Ministerial
colleagues on the Veterans Task Force; and I have the support from my officials
in the Veterans Affairs Secretariat. As I have told Parliament today, we
have some new money that will be used to finance the work of the Veterans
Initiative through a new Challenge Fund.
I am delighted to be able to tell you that up to £2 million has been
made available for projects over the next three years. I want this fund to
be used to help address the identifiable gaps in existing activity or knowledge
that will need to be filled if we are to deliver the agreed Strategy for
Veterans. This tax-payers money should obviously be used wisely. It should
not be used, for example, to replace existing sources of funding, and care
must be taken not to duplicate existing activities of other bodies. I envisage
it being used to “pump-prime” and support new-veterans related
projects initiated by the MOD, or to introduce a veterans dimension to projects
being taken forward in other parts of Government, or to support joint proposals
in partnership with the veterans organisations.
The Strategy for Veterans identifies 3 key activities or work streams: preparation
of service personnel for return to civilian life, support to veterans where
needed and work to promote the recognition and status of veterans. I would
like the Fund to be used to pump-prime a few projects in each work stream.
One way to further optimise the transition of Service Personnel to Civilian
Life might be to run a project to establish best practice for mentoring and
befriending schemes for the more vulnerable leavers. For instance, a question
I have already asked is whether we could do more for people who leave the
Forces to give access to Recreational facilities at a base, especially when
they continue to live in that community?
Another major priority identified is the improvement of the support available
to ex-Service personnel suffering from mental illness. I want to see our
discussions developing with the Department of Health, and other stakeholders,
to create real engagement on these matters. We are all aware this is a real
problem.
To help improve the flow of information on the support available to veterans
I would like to pump-prime projects such as producing a new Community Legal
Service leaflet dedicated specifically to Veterans and distributed through
the Citizens Advice Bureaux.
We also need more evidence on the incidence of homelessness amongst ex-Service
personnel as part of the wider Government agenda for tackling social vulnerability
in all sections of society. I would therefore consider it appropriate to
finance some new UK wide research together with my colleagues in the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Awareness
A concept that has evolved from the existing Veterans Initiative Education
Working Group that would improve the status of veterans in wider society
is likely to need to develop a new educational D-Day Website to coincide
with the 60th Anniversary of the Normandy landings. This website would carry
historical information, starting with the D Day landings and then reaching
out to 'hotspots' around the world where British and commonwealth troops
were engaged at that time. School children would then be able to develop
their understanding of this key time in our history by finding answers to
various questions such as: What was happening in North Africa that week or
month? What were Indian troops doing in Asia Pacific? What was the situation
in a military hospital in London or a POW in Germany?
Another way to raise the status of veterans would be by establishing facilities
for preserving and collecting the oral memory of our surviving veterans from
all recent conflicts [ad lib on Portslade school] . As you can see, good
work is already underway in this area, but more can and should be done.
So I have great hopes for this new Challenge Fund and for raising more awareness
and I am determined to make it go a long way. I have offered some ideas.
But my key message to partners in the Forum is that if you yourselves have
ideas for projects or initiatives that will help veterans but which need
some funding, let us know.
Conclusion
Those are just a few ideas - you will have many more. The money is there,
the will is there - I am sure you can use these opportunities to better the
way of life of the veterans community.
We are in this together. I want to make our partnership stronger and more
effective right across Government - that's my commitment but I need your
help, support and assistance to make this happen.
