Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of mental health support services provided for armed forces veterans.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
All of NHS England’s commissioned services for veterans are evidence based, having been developed and delivered from intensive engagement with experts, members of the armed forces community and service charities. NHS England and NHS Improvement assesses need based on a variety of published data, research output and consultation and engagement exercises. As a result of these assessments, the Government and NHS England recently announced Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, which will ensure veterans know where to go for help. Op COURAGE combines three bespoke veterans’ mental health services to provide a complete mental health care pathway for veterans, with individuals benefiting from personalised care plans, ensuring they can access support and treatment both in and out of hours.
For veteran specific mental health services, in 2020-2021 NHS England provided £16.5m, which will be increased to £17.8m for 2021-2022.
Service charities are supported by the Government through the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, which benefits from £10m annually, and in both years an additional £10m has been allocated to support veterans’ mental health needs. During 2020, the COVID-19 Impact Fund has provided nearly £6m in grants to over 100 Armed Forces charities across the United Kingdom. Of the charities awarded funding, 68% of grants sampled supported members of the Armed Forces and veterans’ community for mental health and crisis support, and 77% for easing isolation and loneliness.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of what checks will be required at Northern Ireland ports to comply with the Northern Ireland Protocol from 1 January 2021.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Following the statement made by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 9 December, updates will be made to the House shortly setting out further detail on all Northern Ireland Protocol issues. Extensive guidance has also been published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive about the negotiations in relation to a UK–EU trade deal.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The UK Government is in close contact with officials and ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive regarding a UK-EU trade deal.
The Paymaster General has regular calls with Northern Ireland Executive Ministers, including both the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and other devolved administration counterparts, to discuss progress with the EU negotiations.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster chaired a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) on 16 July to discuss the negotiations with devolved administration counterparts. Both the First Minister and deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive attended.
At official level, UK Government officials continue to work alongside their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive, and other devolved nations.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to increase electoral registration across the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Over £14 million has been invested over the last two financial years to support activities aimed at increasing the levels of voter registration, including in the run up to the General Election. Online registration has made registering to vote more accessible than ever before with over three quarters of the 9.6 million applications to date under Individual Electoral Registration being made online. The Electoral Commission has published its analysis of the electoral registers used for elections on 7 May which shows that over 400,000 more entries were on these registers when compared to the last registers before IER, published in February/March 2014.