Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 20858 on Teachers: Veterans, what steps her Department has taken to advertise the availability of the undergraduate teaching bursary for veterans.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The £40,000 tax free undergraduate veteran teaching bursary is available to veterans who have left full time employment from the British Army, Royal Air Force, or Royal Navy and enrol on an eligible undergraduate initial teacher training (ITT) course. The bursary is paid over the final two years of the course with £20,000 payable in each year. Veterans who have a degree can undertake postgraduate ITT courses where they can access the bursaries and scholarships of up to £30,000 available on these routes into teaching.
The department remains committed to promoting opportunities for service leavers and veterans, including supporting their journey into teaching in primary, secondary and further education through its broad support services and bursaries. Since the publication of its commitments in the ‘Veterans Strategy Action Plan 2022 to 2024’, the department has ensured that there is tailored support available for the veteran community including dedicated teacher training advisers, webpages, case study blogs on the Get Into Teaching website and information in Civvy Street publications. More information on this support can be found at the following links:
The department also collaborates with the Career Transition Partnership and British Forces Resettlement Service to provide bespoke webinars, and presence at regional employer fairs. More information about these can be found at the following links:
The department regularly engages with international governments to share best practice on how to attract and retain talented teachers from all backgrounds and on how to support all teachers in their career journeys. The department’s digital services that manage the ITT application process have been designed to be as user friendly as possible and have been extensively tested with a diverse range of potential applicants to ensure they help remove barriers to great teachers applying for ITT courses.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to undertake a lessons learned exercise on countries that have introduced policies to encourage veterans to become teachers.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The £40,000 tax free undergraduate veteran teaching bursary is available to veterans who have left full time employment from the British Army, Royal Air Force, or Royal Navy and enrol on an eligible undergraduate initial teacher training (ITT) course. The bursary is paid over the final two years of the course with £20,000 payable in each year. Veterans who have a degree can undertake postgraduate ITT courses where they can access the bursaries and scholarships of up to £30,000 available on these routes into teaching.
The department remains committed to promoting opportunities for service leavers and veterans, including supporting their journey into teaching in primary, secondary and further education through its broad support services and bursaries. Since the publication of its commitments in the ‘Veterans Strategy Action Plan 2022 to 2024’, the department has ensured that there is tailored support available for the veteran community including dedicated teacher training advisers, webpages, case study blogs on the Get Into Teaching website and information in Civvy Street publications. More information on this support can be found at the following links:
The department also collaborates with the Career Transition Partnership and British Forces Resettlement Service to provide bespoke webinars, and presence at regional employer fairs. More information about these can be found at the following links:
The department regularly engages with international governments to share best practice on how to attract and retain talented teachers from all backgrounds and on how to support all teachers in their career journeys. The department’s digital services that manage the ITT application process have been designed to be as user friendly as possible and have been extensively tested with a diverse range of potential applicants to ensure they help remove barriers to great teachers applying for ITT courses.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 20857 on Schools: Veterans, what estimate her Department has made of the number of veterans that will take up the undergraduate veteran teaching bursary in 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not forecast how many veterans will take up the undergraduate veteran teaching bursary. The bursary is paid to eligible veterans if they enrol on an eligible undergraduate initial teacher training course.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 20856 on Schools: Veterans, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new activities in the national curriculum on the role of the armed forces and veterans in society.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Curriculum is a framework setting out the content that the department expects schools to cover in each subject. The curriculum does not set out how curriculum subjects, or topics within the subjects, should be taught. The department believes schools should be able to use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils, and to make choices about what they teach. Therefore, whilst the department does not direct schools to teach about the role of the armed forces and veterans in society, schools are already free to do so in the context of citizenship within the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4, which includes important content about the British constitution, the precious liberties enjoyed by the citizens of the United Kingdom and the roles played by public institutions and citizens.
Schools are also able to teach about these topics within other subjects. For example, the flexibility within the history curriculum means that there is the opportunity for teachers to teach about the lived experience of veterans across the spectrum of themes and eras set out in the curriculum. The role of the armed forces could also be explored through English literature where the context is right.
The government has committed to making no changes to the curriculum for the remainder of this parliament.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the level of mental health support provided to veterans who have addictions.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since 2015, the Better Care Fund has been crucial in supporting people of all walks of life to live healthy, independent, and dignified lives, through joining up health, social care, and housing services seamlessly around the person. There is no data available on how much of that funding may have been used for veterans. However, since August 2021, there have been four social prescribing pilots in the areas of Cornwall, Durham, Dorset, and Kensington and Chelsea. Between July 2023 and March 2024, the projects supported a total of 226 veterans.
In addition to the social prescribing pilots, NHS England has been operating seven Op COMMUNITY pilot sites which provide support to the wider Armed Forces Community, including veterans. These sites are in the integrated care board areas of Humber and North Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and West Essex, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, North Central London, Devon, Kent and Medway with Sussex, Bath, North-East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire. Across the seven sites, they have supported 319 referrals relating to veterans.
No formal single assessment has been made to the potential merits of increasing mental health support to veterans with addictions. It is recognised that some individuals would benefit from mental health support, which is why NHS England commissioned Op COURAGE. This is a bespoke mental health pathway that provides support to veterans with mental health issues and addiction issues. The Op COURAGE service is in addition to the support that is available to veterans from locally commissioned addiction and mental health services.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on implementation of the recommendations of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 23 May 2024 to Question 26830.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-05-17/26830
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make the Armed Forces Covenant statutory.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Government has met its manifesto commitment to strengthen the Armed Forces Covenant in law by introducing a statutory Covenant Duty through the Armed Forces Act 2021, to raise awareness of, and help promote better outcomes for, the Armed Forces community when accessing key public services.
During the passage of the Armed Forces Act, the Ministry of Defence committed to review whether central government should be included within the scope of the duty, and to report back to Parliament in the 2023 Covenant and Veterans Annual Report. Overall, the review found that the UK Government and Devolved Administrations are already implementing the Armed Forces Covenant as a matter of Government policy. We are committed to further strengthening of the Covenant and are actively looking at options.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2024 to Question 20145 on Homelessness: Veterans, how often his Department meets with (a) officials and (b) ministers from the devolved Administrations to discuss veterans’ homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 20145 on 16 April 2024.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20144 on Social Rented Housing: Veterans, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of recording the armed forces status of social housing applicants.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Localism Act 2011 gave local authorities the power to decide who qualifies for social housing and to set waiting list policies appropriate to their local area. In June 2020 we published new statutory guidance for local authorities that set out how they can identify applications from members of the Armed Forces, veterans and their families, to ensure that they are considered appropriately.
The guidance also asks local authorities to give ‘additional preference’ (high priority) to seriously injured, ill or disabled Service personnel and former members of the Armed Forces who already have ‘reasonable preference’ (priority).
The latest Local Authority Housing Statistics, available at Local Authority Housing Statistics data returns for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), provide data for those households on housing registers which include members of the UK Armed Forces community with additional preference.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024, to Question 19773, on Veterans: Cost of Living, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing cost of living support for veterans.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This Government has successfully reduced inflation by more than half, which will make the cost of living more affordable for veterans along with every other resident in the UK.
Veterans’ employment is at an all-time high, with 89% of those leaving service finding employment within six months, but we're determined to go further. The recently launched OP PROSPER backed by £2.1million in government funding will support veterans and their families into valuable, fulfilling employment in roles which fully utilise their skills and capabilities, based in sectors at the forefront of innovation and economic growth.
This government also introduced, and continued for at least one further year at the Autumn statement, 12-month National Insurance relief to eligible employers recruiting veterans in their first civilian role after service.
My officials continue to drive forward efforts to ensure that veterans and their families are fully aware of the benefits and support available to them, including in relation to easing the Cost of Living.