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Speech by Ivor Caplin MP, Minister for Veterans - Project Compass 16 June 2004
I am delighted to be able to speak at this reception to present the plans for the future of Project Compass. First, I would like thank you Mike for your kind words of welcome and to all at KPMG for hosting this event tonight.
Social exclusion can be multi-facetted, and tackling homelessness is key to helping people return to normal life. I strongly support Project Compass which provides some of the essential support needed to assist socially-excluded ex-Service personnel to make that important step on the road to recovery.
I want to take this opportunity to give you an overall view of how the MOD is seeking to tackle homelessness and social exclusion among veterans and highlight the importance we place on working in partnership to achieve this. Some statistics first. There are around 5 million actual veterans and around 13 million people who are associated with veterans in the UK. Currently, approximately 24,000 leave the Armed Forces each year. The vast majority find life in the Services a positive experience and make a successful transition into civilian life. Unfortunately, a relatively small minority find it harder to do so and are at risk of becoming homeless. This may occur when they leave or many years later. Irrespective of timing we want to help them.
In the past I have been asked why so much emphasis is placed on tackling the problem, if the number of homeless ex-Service personnel is so relatively small, and the causes of homelessness are not necessarily even linked to their Service.
Well quite simply, I believe that the MOD has an obligation to those who have served their country. Therefore, a vital part of my responsibilities as Minister for Veterans is to ensure that Service personnel, our nation's future veterans, are given as much help as possible to make a successful transition and that if things do go wrong for whatever reason, appropriate and effective support is provided. To achieve this we have a number of successful programmes, working in partnership with organisations who have the relevant expertise.
Providing housing and advice and assistance to Service personnel is obviously crucial to a smooth transition from military to civilian life. For over 7 years the Joint Service Housing Advice Office has been providing this service as a focal point for advice and by delivering civilian housing option briefings to Service personnel. In today's financial climate of increasing house prices across the country I believe that Service personnel should be encouraged to get a foot on the property ladder. So earlier this year we took the decision that from April the Joint Service Housing Advice Office had its staff increased to help educate Service personnel about the need to consider civilian housing provision at a much earlier stage of their career.
An important aspect of this Office's work is assisting Service personnel to find housing through the MOD Housing Nominations Scheme. To date, in cooperation with 38 Housing Associations and 4 Councils, over 1500 families or single people have been housed.
We all realise the importance of identifying people at risk of homelessness and having preventive measures in place and I am pleased that the MOD has two partnership initiatives that seek to deliver this help.
These are the Single Persons Accommodation Centre for the Ex-Services, or (SPACES), which is run by the English Churches Housing Group at Catterick and the Armed Forces Project based at the Military Corrective Training Centre in Colchester, which is run by Shelter. Since their inception some 3 years ago, these initiatives have provided housing advice and assistance for over 2000 Service leavers and have been directly responsible for finding accommodation for over 500 vulnerable people.
The SPACES partnership also led to the development of the Galleries Project in Richmond, North Yorkshire. The Galleries provides people from all three Services, who are at risk of becoming homeless, with short-term, supported accommodation. Since the 13 units of accommodation were opened in November 2002, over 51 people have been assisted and 36 have been moved on to permanent accommodation.
The Galleries has clearly been successful, and demand exceeds capacity. We have responded by developing a proposal for a second larger 'Galleries 2' project in Aldershot and we continue to take this proposal forward. I am pleased that SPACES, Galleries and the Armed Forces project will also be linked to Project Compass.
You may be aware of our long-standing Armed Forces Resettlement Package, which is delivered by the Career Transition Partnership. The package is considered to be among the best available to employees anywhere. Last year the Career Transition Partnership provided transition assistance to some 11,000 eligible Service leavers. Current figures show that 95% of personnel that undertake resettlement assistance find employment within 6 months of leaving the Armed Forces.
Until recently there has been a gap in the provision of resettlement assistance to some people leaving the Services. This group included "Early Service Leavers" who were compulsorily discharged as unsuitable for military life, or who chose to leave before they were eligible for resettlement assistance.
To bridge this gap, additional assistance was again introduced in April. This will ensure that all early leavers will receive a mandatory interview with trained staff, who will provide sign-posting advice and guidance to organisations such as Job Centre Plus, The Joint Service Housing Advice Office, SPACES and ex-Service organisations. During the interview, our staff will seek to identify people who are at risk of becoming socially excluded and refer them to appropriate specialist assistance. This important improvement means all Service leavers are now entitled to resettlement assistance. It is I believe an important step forward for our Armed Forces.
To assist ex-Service personnel who are homeless we work closely with the Ex-Services Action Group on Homelessness, which brings together representatives from voluntary and public sector to promote new initiatives to tackle ex-Service homelessness. I am pleased that over the last year, MOD and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Homelessness Directorate have assisted several Ex-Service Action Group organisations including 'New Belvedere House', a hostel for homeless veterans in Stepney, where an additional 15 units of accommodation and other facilities have been provided.
Earlier today, my colleague Lord Rooker, the Minister for Regeneration and Regional Development also opened 20 new units of much needed additional permanent accommodation at the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation, which I visited earlier this year.
The MOD has also assisted by funding a key worker for the Ex-Services Resettlement Project and producing a booklet providing information on the resources available for Homeless ex-Service personnel in London.
Of course, we need to measure the impact of all of this work and provide evidence for future policy decisions. We are therefore working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the devolved administrations and the Ex-Service Action Group in commissioning King's College London to conduct the first phase of a UK wide study into the extent and location - together with the causes, costs and impact - of ex-Service Homelessness. This feasibility study will define the methodology to be used for main research across the UK. The work of phase 1 will be complete at the end of July and the intention is to complete the main study by the end of March 2005. I am also committed to extending the study to Northern Ireland.
This important piece of work, never before undertaken on such a large scale, will prove extremely important not just to Government but also to other current voluntary sector initiatives, including Project Compass.
I don't want to steal Mike and Anthony's thunder as far as
the plans for Project Compass are concerned. (Though I know some of you will
consider this unusual for a politician). But I would like to make a brief
point about this project in conclusion.
In November last year I accompanied The Prince Of Wales on a visit to the
project. I was immensely impressed as I know the Prince was with the achievements
of the pilot scheme and the plans for the future. I am enormously grateful
to all the partners that have made this scheme possible, in particular Business
Action On Homelessness, Training for Life, Rolls Royce, BAE SYSTEMS, AMS,
Interserve FM and Right Coutts, and of course our hosts this evening KPMG.
Project Compass is a good example of the way Government and the Corporate and Voluntary sectors can cooperate and make things happen when they want to. This partnership approach for the benefit of veterans of all ages and backgrounds is a major element of my work as Minister for Veterans and so I have a keen interest in the success of Project Compass.
I know there is real determination to deal effectively with
the issues. This is a good start and we can all be pleased with that. However,
there is no room for sitting back, there is a lot more action required and
your support and hard work is needed and I can assure you is appreciated.
Working together I do believe we are making real change happen. Let's keep
up the good work.
