§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria have been regarded as relevant in judging eligibility and in making distributions to beneficiaries from the Gulf Trust fund or the relevant service benevolent funds.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe deed of the trust for the Gulf Trust prescribes that moneys must be used to meet the financial needs of the beneficiaries and for the relief of sickness, distress and any other physical or mental disability, arising from the involvement of the armed forces in military or other operations relating to or in connection with the Gulf conflict. Potential beneficiaries are limited to members of the armed forces involved in the Gulf conflict; civilian personnel attached to or accompanying the armed forces in the Gulf conflict; and their respective dependants. The support which the service benevolent funds provide can thus cover a wide range of areas and will vary from case to case, in accordance with individual need.
§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the range of needs which have been judged eligible, and have been met, by distribution from the Gulf Trust fund through the service benevolent funds.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe support that the service benevolent funds provide can cover a wide range of areas within the terms of the trust deeds and charity law. It is not the practice of the funds to release details of how they have dealt with individual cases.
§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the latest figure of distributions made by the service benevolent funds, specifying the figures for the three individual funds, from moneys passed to them from the Gulf Trust fund.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe information requested is as follows:
780W
£ King George's Fund for Sailors nil Army Benevolent Fund 304,990 RAF Benevolent Fund 287,630 The figures include moneys paid out up to 31 December 1992, but exclude adminstrative costs and miscellaneous expenses. Some of the payments that were made in the form of loans have already been repaid.
§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the latest available figure of the sums donated by members of the public to the Gulf Trust fund; what total sums, and under what apportionment, have been passed on to the three service benevolent funds from the Gulf Trust fund; and on what basis the apportionments have been calculated.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAs at 31 December 1992, a total of £3,008,051 had been donated to the Gulf Trust fund. No block allocation of funds has been passed by the united services trustee to the service benevolent funds. The benevolent funds are meeting claims arising from the Gulf conflict by payments made to them as necessary by the Gulf Trust fund. The amount of money allocated to each of the service benevolent funds will be announced when the Gulf Trust is wound up.