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Veterans plenary

Meeting of Veterans Plenary - 23 March 2005

Update on Veterans Initiative work to date and plans for 2005 by Malcolm Lingwood, Director Veterans Policy Unit and Major General Mike Shellard, Chairman COBSEO

Overview

• Veterans-related work during 2004 continued to reflect the 3 strands of the Strategy for Veterans:
  • Transition. Ensuring the successful transition from Service to civilian life.
  • Support. Providing appropriate support for veterans where needed.
  • Recognition and Commemoration. Ensuring that the contribution to national security made by veterans when they served in the Armed Forces continues to be properly recognised and commemorated.
    
• Significant progress was made in all three areas of work, although major effort has inevitably been devoted to the sixtieth anniversaries in 2004 and 2005 of events leading to the end of the Second World.

Forging New Links

• 2004 saw improved dialogue and cooperation with the Devolved Administrations, reflecting their increased roles in the delivery of many areas of public services of interest to veterans as well as the importance of engaging veterans across the whole of the United Kingdom. A range of meetings at Ministerial as well as official level helped to forge these increased links.
  
• Major new areas of cooperation also developed with the Big Lottery Fund as well as the corporate sector.

Transition

• The Armed Forces' Resettlement Programme is considered to be among the best available to employees anywhere. However, until 2004, some 9000 Service personnel left the Armed Forces each year without entitlement to formal resettlement. This figure included those who were compulsorily discharged, or who were unsuitable for military life, or who had not served sufficient time to qualify for resettlement support. This policy was changed from April 2004 with the introduction of the 'Early Service Leavers Policy'. This ensures that all early Service leavers receive a mandatory brief and interview with the result that everyone leaving the Services now receives structured help in resettling in civilian life. Now that the change has been in place for almost a year, the Directorate of Resettlement is working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to track early Service leavers after they have left the Armed Forces, with a view to producing statistics on how successful they are in achieving employment, full time education or other goals post discharge.
  
• Work has also continued on a Mentoring Study to examine ways of giving focused mentoring support post-discharge to the most vulnerable Service leavers. Previous research by King's College London and others has shown that the vast majority of personnel find Service a positive experience and make a successful transition to civilian life. Unfortunately, a relatively small minority find it harder to do so and are at risk of falling into social exclusion. This minority tend to suffer ill-health and difficulty in the employment market. It was therefore considered necessary to investigate further the needs of potentially vulnerable Service leavers, to see if these outcomes could be prevented.
  
  The current Post-discharge Mentoring study is also being conducted by King's College London. An initial pilot scheme will assess whether it is feasible to gather relevant information from Service personnel in the initial few weeks after they leave the Armed Forces and whether a formalised mentoring service may be able to play an influential role for such individuals in the future. Participants will be involved in two interviews covering their experience of civilian employment, housing, health and well being and general plans for the future. The study will contribute to evidence based policy on the prevention of social exclusion; the first report is expected to be made by early next year.

Support

• The groups dealing with the work stream on support were reorganised in 2004 and discussion has focused on areas of project work. Projects to be pursued were identified as:
  • Elderly Veterans and Care Homes. A project led by The Royal British Legion will consider ex-Service care homes and trustees' intentions for them. A second piece of work will address financial issues, including grants and charitable funding. We recently welcomed into work stream 2 colleagues from the Devolved Administrations and Department of Health respectively and look forward to the broader perspectives they will bring.
  • Social Exclusion. It has been agreed that a project on Social Exclusion should be developed by SSAFA Forces Help. Given the current fair number of projects in this area, time is being spent scoping the issues so as to avoid replication or nugatory effort. This need for consideration is something that is likely to be increasingly seen in veterans related projects.
    
• Another promising area of cooperative work has been support to veterans who are serving prison sentences to help rehabilitation and prevent re-offending through prison in-reach. The project is being led by the Ministry of Defence, with the Home Office providing expert advice on the way ahead. There has been some early successes in this work and the contribution by The Royal British Legion, SSAFA Forces Help and Combat Stress, amongst others, is greatly appreciated. This new project has received enthusiastic support from many stakeholders and interested organisations and is rolling forward into 2005.
  
• Other work on support to veterans has focused on initiatives to tackle problems experienced by vulnerable veterans, and in particular homelessness and associated problems.
  • For example, a range of initiatives were taken in 2004 in conjunction with the Ex-Service Action Group on Homelessness (ESAG) to develop projects in London.
  • Major steps were taken to launch 'Galleries 2' to provide move-on housing and support in Aldershot to Service leavers at risk of homelessness. We hope to make major progress in 2005.
  • The formal presentation of plans for the roll-out of 'Project Compass' as a nation-wide project to provide focused help to homeless veterans to return to employment and social engagement also took place in 2004. Work is continuing.
  • To support future policy decisions, research work into housing issues also continued in order to identify 'hot spots' of ex-Service homelessness across the UK. A feasibility study was completed in September 2004 with a view to beginning the main research work in 2005.
    
• A further major area of work concerns health services for veterans. Mental health services were a particular focus of work in 2004, given concerns about the mental wellbeing of veterans who are discharged after taking part in operations and the care provided to them. The issue therefore spans both the 'transition' and 'support' work strands. The NHS has had a statutory duty to provide health care for all UK citizens including veterans and war pensioners since 1948. Mental health is one of 3 Government priorities. In 1999 the Government set out its plans for major reforms in NHS Mental Health care. Last December Prof Louis Appleby gave a progress report outlining the significant progress in many areas. This included almost a 20% real increase in financial resources, a third more nurses based in the community, and a quarter more psychiatrists. All of that should be good news to Veterans trying to access help. The Government is also concerned about stigma preventing people, especially men, accessing help for mental conditions and illness. Much work is being done on this issue in-Service. We are conscious that Service leavers and veterans may be equally reticent about seeking help in the civilian community and so MOD has been working with the Department of Health on a new booklet to inform Service-leavers of the mental health services available to veterans from the NHS and how to access them.
  
• Health matters in general, including mental health, are likely to feature in the continuing work of the 'Support' strand in 2005 and beyond. In 2004, Ministers paved the way by choosing health as the first issue to be addressed by the Veterans Task Force (VTF) in the new format designed to focus on specific issues of common concern to a number of Departments and organisations. Being healthy is increasingly viewed as something more than absence of disease or recovery from illness. To be healthy we need to be confident, have high esteem and to feel that we are making a contribution. A recurring theme when speaking to people with disabilities and illness is their desire for these things. There is now clear evidence that work is good for health and MOD is associated with several cross-Governmental initiatives which are supporting people with physical and mental injuries and illnesses by training and rehabilitation back into work.
  
• A number of policy differences continue to exist between some ex-Service organisations and MOD in relation to the approach to operational health matters, and the health of veterans of the 1990/91 Gulf conflict in particular. I will not address these issues in detail. However, for information, the following main areas of work in this area were undertaken by MOD in 2004:
  • Arrangements for monitoring the health of veterans of Op TELIC in Iraq were consolidated.
  • Arrangements for the voluntary retrospective testing for Depleted Uranium in urine for 1990/91 and Balkans veterans were introduced.
  • Work continued on a revised booklet informing GPs of services offered by the Medical Assessment Programme. This has now been published.
  • Discussions continued with the Medical Research Council on possible new research into the health of Gulf war veterans, aimed primarily at measures to improve rehabilitation support.

Recognition and Commemoration

• Major and successful commemorative events linked to the Second World War Anniversaries took place in 2004 at Monte Cassino, Normandy and at Arnhem and elsewhere. In addition, four First World War veterans were able to attend a parade and functions in Whitehall in August to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of the start of the Second World War.
  
• A project team continued work on the Sixtieth Anniversary commemoration of the end of the Second World War in July 2005. The team is also responsible for arrangements for the first ever 'Veterans Awareness Week', planned to coincide with the July 2005 commemorations. You will hear more about the work of this group from Air Vice-Marshal Pocock later.
  
• The Big Lottery Fund's 'Veterans Reunited' programme (now increased to some £40M) came into full operation in 2004 and now provides funding to help all generations of UK residents participate in the Second World War commemorations. It is made up of three parts:
  • The £15M 'Heroes Return' scheme supports veterans wanting to travel to the overseas areas where they saw active service. As at mid March, some 8500 awards had been made to enable 26,000 individuals (including over 12,000 veterans) to travel. The new deadline for applications is the end of May, which will allow even more veterans to join the scheme. The Home Office's decision to make passports freely available to veterans and carers wishing to travel to the commemorations was a very welcome complement to the initiative. In addition, in September last year, the Home Office extended the scheme so that all individuals over the age of 75 on 2 September 2004 would receive a one-off 10-year passport free of charge.
  • The £10M 'Their Past, Your Future' scheme helps young people in particular to learn from the contribution and experiences of veterans. It provides funding for a wide range of activities for schools and young people, including overseas visits, events and exhibitions in schools and communities, and activities that bring young people and veterans together. The scheme is also supporting nine versions of a travelling exhibition developed by the Imperial War Museum. These will visit nearly 70 venues across the UK in 2005-06. The pan-regional launch of the exhibitions took place around 17 February. Minister for Veterans subsequently launched an exhibition in the Ministry of Defence's Main Building.
  • The £12.3M 'Home Front Recall' scheme is supporting a wide range of community projects in the UK. Among other elements, it provides small grants of £500 to £20,000 for activities connected with those people who helped the war effort in Britain by working on farms, in factories, hospitals and mines as well as in the emergency services and the military. Many of the projects receiving funding are scheduled to take place during the first 'Veterans Awareness Week'. Types of projects supported include community days, reunions, exhibitions, plays, art work and oral history projects. As at mid-February, almost 6400 application forms had been sent out, some 800 applications received and about 560 awards made, totalling some £3.6M. In addition, some 9000 resource packs on the 2005 Second World War commemorations have been sent out. Interest in the various aspects of the scheme is growing, and, as with 'Heroes Return', the deadline for applications has been extended to 31 May.
  • Veterans taking part in these schemes are also entitled to a veterans' lapel badge. The badge is proving extremely popular among the veterans' community, and there are plans to issue it to more veterans as resources allow. From 1 February 2005, the badge was also available to the war widows or widowers of veterans who would otherwise have been eligible for the badge. From the same date, the badge is also being made available to new Service leavers.

Supporting Initiatives.

• Work to enhance the communication and information services available to veterans also continued. A number of new leaflets were launched – including a Community Legal Service Direct leaflet, developed in cooperation with the Legal Services Commission, on veterans-related matters. This was the first time that a leaflet in the series had focused on a specific client group rather than a subject matter and copies of the leaflet are available for you to take away today. A new ESAG leaflet on housing support in London was also produced. This proved an extremely useful tool for those welfare workers who are responsible for providing advice to vulnerable veterans in the London area. Finally work is in hand by the Communications Action Team, which is led by the Veterans Agency, to develop new information opportunities in cooperation with major stakeholders. Areas that the team are addressing include:
  • Regional conferences to raise awareness amongst the voluntary sector of the contribution made by ex-Service organisations in order that those who are responsible for delivering a welfare service can work better together in the future. A successful first conference was held in London in February with further conferences planned for Edinburgh in April and Cardiff in July.
  • A short promotional video, which is being produced to raise awareness of the help and assistance available to veterans.
  • Raising awareness within the Services of the Veterans Agency and the ex-Service organisations. This is also intended to assist those organisations involved to reach future veterans at an early stage.
  • A programme has also been set in place to improve how information and advice is delivered to veterans through Citizens Advice Bureaux.
    
• The traditional funding of support for veterans continued to be complemented by the 'Veterans Challenge Fund'. Launched in July 2003 by the Minister for Veterans, the Challenge Fund allows the MOD and veterans' organisations to support projects on an opportunity basis. Examples of recent successful bids include:
  • A project by St Dunstan's intended to make a major contribution to the government's education and citizenship programme for schools. To this end St Dunstan's have researched and invested in a significant project to be delivered to schools by St Dunstaners - those who were blinded or lost their sight. They have so far invested some £93,000 of their own money in setting up this project and are looking for additional funding to allow the programme to expand over the next 10 years at an anticipated cost of some £1M+. The Challenge Fund has contributed £40,000 to offset some of their initial set up costs.
  • A War Widows Association Bereavement Support course. The course is primarily aimed at providing training for military widow(er)s to support others at the time of their bereavement and in the future. The intention is to help individuals to understand their own reactions and behaviour at the time of their bereavement and subsequently to be better able to help others in this situation. Funded in the past by SSAFA Forces Help or the RAF Benevolent Fund, the hope is that this course may soon become part of the Services' core training programme. The Challenge Fund paid £3,130 for the course in July 2004.
  • Sponsorship of a BLESMA yacht crew. As part of the rehabilitation process, BLESMA has sponsored members to undertake sailing courses. In 2001 their group of sailors became the first all-amputee crew to complete the Fastnet Race; they came 130th, beating some 100 able-bodied crews. They are mounting a major project, at a cost of some £85,000, to take part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in December 2005. They will enter the Class II Division, run under the auspices of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. The aim is to show that the disabled are fully capable of dealing with challenging events and master the situations in which they may find themselves. The Challenge Fund will contribute £20,000.
  • A commemorative booklet by the HMS Belfast Association for all former crew members of the ship. While the Association will undertake the research, they would like some help in bringing the project to fruition. The project is likely to cost some £18,000. The Challenge Fund will contribute up to £8,500.

Money is still available from the Fund and you are encouraged to make a bid.

Summary

• I hope that this has given you at least an indication of last year's work and areas being pursued this year.
  
• I will now handover to Maj Gen Mike Shellard, Chairman COBSEO for some observations.

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