Contributions
1,406 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsI am exceptionally grateful to my hon. Friend, who takes a close interest in these matters. Having spent four decades occupying pretty shoddy accommodation across the defence…07 Nov 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsI am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. Help for Heroes is one of our key charities, which I visited a while back in its premises near Salisbury, and I plan to meet it…07 Nov 2022HANSARDArmed Forces RecruitmentI can assure the hon. Lady that the matter is under review. I cannot comment much further than that. I hope that that will satisfy her.07 Nov 2022HANSARDArmed Forces RecruitmentMy hon. Friend is right about this. Not recruiting is bad, but recruiting and then not retaining is even worse, for very obvious reasons. Defence recognises the need to improve…07 Nov 2022HANSARDArmed Forces RecruitmentWe continue to apply an array of measures to support recruitment and retention and refine the armed forces’ offer. These include financial incentives, flexible service, and an…07 Nov 2022HANSARDArmed Forces Families: “Living in our Shoes” ReportI did of course outline some of the ways in which we have been supporting families in my earlier remarks. I would urge anybody in the service community who is concerned about…07 Nov 2022HANSARDArmed Forces Families: “Living in our Shoes” ReportI am very sympathetic to my hon. Friend. We owe so much to our families and he highlights that very well in his report. Of course we meet service families all the time and I am…07 Nov 2022HANSARDArmed Forces Families: “Living in our Shoes” ReportMay I first pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his excellent, comprehensive report? Families are an integral part of the armed forces community, and our evolving assistance to them…07 Nov 2022HANSARDSupport for VeteransThe Department, through Veterans UK, provides information and advice to our veterans on statutory benefits, pensions and jobs, one-to-one welfare support, and administers service…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisI am very grateful to my hon. and gallant Friend and near neighbour. He invites me to ensure that Wiltshire gets more cash, in particular the excellent Wiltshire College. That is…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisUniversal credit is paid right the way up the income scale depending, as the hon. Lady will well know, on circumstances, number of children and the cost of accommodation. She…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisThe hon. Lady will know that that is not in my gift, but I point her to the veterans’ strategy action plan published in January 2020, which contained over 60 policy commitments at…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisThere have been issues with some applications for both schemes, but I think the position has improved since last year. Nevertheless, the Government have injected further funds to…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisI do not accept that. I have just explained what we are doing to address that. We are trying to understand how the cost of living crisis is impacting on our service and veteran…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisI am grateful to the hon. Lady. It is important to understand the extent of this, which is why the Government have backed Cobseo to do a deep dive in October on how the cost of…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisThank you, Mr Speaker. We are working at pace across Government and the service charity sector to understand how the veterans community may be impacted, including in the…07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisI absolutely accept that, Mr Speaker—I was simply pointing out that they are very similar.07 Nov 2022HANSARDVeterans: Cost of Living CrisisWith permission, Mr Speaker, I should like to answer these remarkably similar questions together. The Government are committed to supporting all households with the current cost…07 Nov 2022HANSARDNuclear Testing Veterans: Service MedalsThe hon. Lady has fallen into the same trap as the hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey). She really must not take what she reads in the press at face value. I…07 Nov 2022HANSARDNuclear Testing Veterans: Service MedalsI am grateful to the hon. Lady, but she really ought not believe everything she sees in the pages of the Daily Mirror. The procedure is for the Advisory Military Sub-Committee to…07 Nov 2022