Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many eviction notices have been served to tenants in Ministry of Defence owned properties (1) in each month since January, and (2) in each year from 2010 to 2020.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Department does not issue eviction notices; these are issued and enforced by a court. The Department issues Notices to Vacate (NTV) in the following circumstances:
Service personnel to coincide with the final day of Service, or when their entitlement ceases due to personal circumstances.
Civilian sub-let tenants prior to the termination of their occupancy.
The annual number of NTV and enforcement actions required to regain possession from Service personnel/former Service personnel in Financial Year 2015 - 2019 was as follows:
(No centralised records were kept on the number of NTV and enforcement actions required to regain possession from Service personnel in Service Families Accommodation prior to 1 April 2015).
Period of time | Number of NTV issued | Number of enforcement actions |
1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016 | 2,330 | 114 |
1 April 2016 - 31 March 2017 | 2,108 | 43 |
1 April 2017 - 31 March 2018 | 2,264 | 58 |
1 April 2018 - 31 March 2019 | 2,558 | 51 |
1 April 2019 - 31 December 2019 | 1,611 | 37 |
The monthly number of NTV and enforcement actions required to regain possession from Service personnel/former Service personnel since January 2020 was as follows:
Period of time | Number of NTV issued | Number of enforcement actions |
January 2020 | 166 | 1 |
February 2020 | 105 | 1 |
March 2020 | 110 | 1 |
April – September 2020 | 0 | 1 |
The annual number of NTV and and enforcement actions required to regain possession from civilian sub-let tenants from Financial Year 2016 - 2019:
(The civilian sub-let programme started in 2016, and as such is reflected in the table below)
Period of time | Number of NTV issued | Number of enforcement actions |
1 January 2016 - 31 December 2016 | 0 | 0 |
1 January 2017 - 31 December 2017 | 1 | 0 |
1 January 2018 - 31 December 2018 | 0 | 0 |
1 January 2019 - 31 December 2019 | 8 | 3 |
The monthly number of NTV issued to civilian sub-let tenants since January 2019:
January 2020 | February 2020 | March - August 2020 | September 2020 |
|
|
0 | 4 | 0 | 367 |
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|
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Armed Forces personnel are on standby to carry out door-to-door COVID 19 testing.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are currently 739 Armed Forces personal at high readiness, or otherwise committed to supporting the national COVID response. Approximately 7,000 personnel will shortly be brought to readiness ahead of the Winter period.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord True on 9 September (HL Deb, col 758), on what date Ministers will complete their discussions on visa fees for Commonwealth nationals who have served in the Armed Forces and want to remain in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government highly values the service of all members of HM Forces, including Commonwealth nationals.
It is for these reasons we explicitly provide for non-UK veterans discharged from HM Forces to obtain settlement in the UK after having served for four years or more or having been discharged for medical reasons due to their service.
The Ministry of Defence make clear to foreign and Commonwealth recruits into the Forces the process by which they and their families can attain settlement in the UK and the costs involved.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their paper The Strategy for our Veterans, published in November 2018, what progress has been made in improving data collection to help prevent veterans’ suicides.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Data about suicide rates amongst the general population across England and Wales are reported by the Office for National Statistics using information provided to registrars by coroners in their records of inquest. Historically, governments have relied on specific studies relating to the cause of death, including suicide, amongst veterans’ cohorts from specific campaigns, for example the Falklands campaign and the 1990/91 Gulf conflict. In order to ensure that the Government has the most up-to-date understanding of the prevalence of suicide amongst serving and ex-service personnel, two further studies are being conducted. The first is documenting all causes of death, including suicide, amongst those who have served in the Armed Forces since 2001. This study will continue on an ongoing basis to provide real-time data about causes of death, including suicide, amongst those who have served. A second study is looking at the factors in the year leading up to any confirmed suicide amongst serving and ex-service personnel in the last five years.
Whilst these studies will provide updated and improved data about the prevalence of suicide amongst veterans, the importance of this issue means that the Government is committed to exploring other routes, including a potential role for coroners, by which suicides could be recorded accurately and consistently so as to help inform improved support and interventions aimed at preventing suicide.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support the Office for Veterans' Affairs provides to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government is taking a number of measures to improve mental health support for veterans including those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
These measures start with for individuals whilst serving in the Armed Forces where personnel now undergo ‘through-life’ psychological resilience training. Personnel have access to the Defence Transition service, launched in October 2019. This provides information and support for Service leavers and their families who are most likely to face challenges as they leave the Armed Forces, including those which may impact on their mental health.
The Government continues to invest in the provision of a world-leading mental health pathway in the NHS in England for those who have served in the Armed Forces, which encompasses the Transition Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS) and Complex Treatment Services (CTS). We are also accelerating a new High Intensity Service due to be launched later this year, which will provide further support for those with acute mental health needs. As well as investing in these services, the Government continues to work on improving the awareness of, and access to, these services, with over 800 veteran-friendly GP surgeries. In addition to the provision of statutory services through the NHS, the Government has, through funding provided to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and the COVID-19 Impact Fund, continued to invest in charity and third-sector organisations which provide services which support the mental and physical wellbeing of veterans. NHS England and NHS Improvement has also recently provided funding to a number of Armed Forces charities to support serving personnel, veterans and their families during COVID-19.
As well as clinical and charity services, the Government is also funding research and studies to improve the understanding of the issues and instances of mental health, including PTSD amongst the Armed Forces community.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the Office for Veterans' Affairs is taking to work with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that veterans who have become unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic find new employment.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Department for Work and Pensions is delivering a range of employment support for those affected by COVID-19. These initiatives can benefit those whose employment has been affected by COVID-19, including veterans.
More widely, the Government is committed to helping veterans secure fulfilling and sustainable employment. The Ministry of Defence provides a Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to assist Service leavers in finding employment.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was spent by the Ministry of Defence on consultancy fees in each year since 2010.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry of Defence publishes spend over £25,000 on a monthly basis as part of its transparency data routine publication which is accessible at the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-finance-transparency-dataset
Additionally, the Ministry of Defence publishes annual accounts. The latest of which can be found at the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-annual-reports
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to help armed forces personnel from Commonwealth countries to settle in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government highly values the service of all members of HM Forces, including Commonwealth nationals.
It is for these reasons we explicitly provide for non-UK veterans discharged from HM Forces to obtain settlement in the UK after having served for four years or more or having been discharged for medical reasons due to their service.
The Ministry of Defence make clear to foreign and Commonwealth recruits into the Forces the process by which they and their families can attain settlement in the UK and the costs involved.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to resume the recruitment to the Armed Forces of personnel born in Commonwealth countries.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Recruitment of Commonwealth citizens has never stopped. Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, both the Army and the Royal Air Force (RAF) had received large numbers of applications from Commonwealth citizens. The Army therefore stopped accepting new applications in September 2019 and the RAF stopped accepting applications from outside the UK in November 2019. The Royal Navy (RN)/Royal Marines (RM) has continued to accept new applications.
When the COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in March 2020, the RN/RM and RAF continued with the selection and initial training of all applicants who were already in the UK, including those from the Commonwealth. For those applicants based outside the UK, they continued to be proactively managed virtually, but their applications and the recruitment process could not be completed until candidates were once again able to fly to the UK and could meet any COVID-19 restrictions placed on their entry, such as quarantine measures.
The Army temporarily paused all face-to-face selection until June and all Basic Training until May, but applicants continued to be managed and nurtured. Since selection and training has resumed, the Army has continued to process those applicants already in the UK, and those who had applied prior to September 2019. The Army continues to have enough applications from Commonwealth citizens to meet demand for the current Recruiting Year, and will not therefore be accepting new applications, other than for the Royal Corps of Music.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any Secretary of State for Defence received an invitation from the Intelligence and Security Committee to give evidence to that committee's inquiry into Russia; and if so, what are the reasons for that invitation not being accepted. [T]
Answered by Baroness Goldie
No Secretary of State for Defence was asked to give evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee's inquiry into Russia, however Defence officials did give evidence.