§ Mr. NichollsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received about the performance of the Army Medal Office; what is the average time for dealing with applications concerning campaign medals; if he will make extra staffing resources available to the Army Medal Office; if he will introduce a fast track procedure for the processing of applications which takes account of the age and health of the applicant; and if he will make a statement. [29785]
§ Mr. SpellarDuring the period commemorating the end of the Second World War there was a considerable upsurge in requests to the Army Medal Office (AMO).
828WThis led to a backlog and a delay of more than 12 months in processing applications. As a consequence my Department received a number of letters from MPs and the public regarding the delay. I have investigated this with the AMO and major efforts are being made to reduce the waiting time which I am pleased to report now stands at 8 months. We are working to ensure a further reduction. My Department has considered, but decided against, employing extra staff to reduce the waiting time as it would take six months to train new staff fully and would divert experienced staff from their primary task of assessing medal entitlements. The Army Medal Office already has a policy in place for processing applications from those ex-Servicemen over the age of 90 or those who are terminally ill. These cases are processed immediately and normally completed within three weeks of receipt.