§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress he has made in publicising and demonstrating assistance offered to veterans of the armed services by central and local government. [10215]
§ Dr. MoonieSince my appointment as Minister for Veterans' Affairs on 14 March significant progress has been made in publicising and demonstrating the aims of the Veterans' Initiative. The Ministry of Defence has established a Veterans' Affairs Secretariat and I have chaired two meetings of the Veterans' Forum comprising the Confederation of British Service and Ex-Service Organisations (COBSEO) executive committee members, and officials from Government Departments with an interest in veterans' affairs. I also chaired the first meeting of the Forum in Plenary session on 16 October, which was attended by 158 delegates from veterans' organisations, welfare providers and pressure groups. The Plenary programme included a presentation from the DTLR's National Housing Federation which gave veterans advice on how to get the most out of the "Supporting People" initiative currently being taken forward by local government. The Veterans' Forum has fully endorsed the Strategic Action Plan to take forward the Veterans' Initiative and I will now present the plan to my ministerial colleagues at the Veterans' Task Force on 6 November.
A short press release was issued after each forum meeting and minutes of forum and task force meetings, including a copy of the Strategic Action Plan, have been widely circulated among the veterans' community and are available on the MOD website: http://www.mod.uk/vau