Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that an expanded Armed Forces Covenant Duty will be backed by (1) measures of success, (2) methods for monitoring the impact of the Covenant Duty, and (3) regular reporting of the findings of such monitoring.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Officials are currently working on refining the Covenant Annual Report, leveraging this established mechanism to assess the impact of the Covenant and measure its success. This report is a key tool for ensuring transparency and accountability, as it is subject to parliamentary scrutiny. The Secretary of State for Defence is legally required to report annually to Parliament on progress in delivering the Covenant across the UK.
As part of this work, officials are exploring ways to improve data collection and develop more robust methods for measuring the impact and success of the Legal Duty. These efforts aim to provide a clearer understanding of how the Covenant is being delivered, ultimately driving improvements in support for the Armed Forces community. The team will continue to identify opportunities to enhance data collection processes, ensuring that the information gathered is comprehensive, accurate, and reflective of the needs of the Armed Forces community.
Additionally, the Covenant Team actively monitor trends through the Covenant website and a dedicated mailbox to identify areas of disadvantage.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Veterans on 23 April 2025 (HC47398), what further progress they have made on the rollout of Programme Cortisone.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The vision for Programme CORTISONE is to deliver a sustainable, integrated, cohesive and enduring information capability to support the delivery of evidence-based medical and dental health and healthcare outputs.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded a £7.8 million contract to Leeds software company, The Phoenix Partnership to provide a modern electronic healthcare records system called SystmOne for the Armed Forces. This will digitalise military medical records and integrate MOD systems with the NHS.
Scheduled to begin its roll out in 2027, SystmOne is fully secure and compatible with the NHS, meaning that Service personnel will receive quick and seamless care between Defence and civilian health systems, including both new recruits and Service leavers transitioning in and out of the military.
It will replace outdated time-consuming processes for transfers of information between the NHS and the Defence Medical services, be more user-friendly and increase time to care for patients by improving clinical productivity and reducing the admin burden with a modern IT system.
The contract award aligns with the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 which outlines a commitment to increase MOD spending with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Coaker on 23 October (HL Deb col 631), what assessment they have made of the decision not to use recycled nuclear material from decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines for energy generation; and what were the technical, safety, or cost reasons behind this decision.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK does not currently have the capability to reprocess used fuel from decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines for the purpose of energy generation and to do so would require significant investment in new technology. Used naval nuclear fuel will continue to be stored safely and securely.