Oral Answers to Questions

Douglas Ross Excerpts

Monday 18th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mark Lancaster]

The hon. Gentleman seems to have a crystal ball—I simply do not—to see exactly what the situation will be post 29 March.

[Douglas Ross (Moray) (Con)]

16. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of employment of ex-service personnel.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

18. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of employment of ex-service personnel.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Tobias Ellwood)]

Some 15,000 armed forces personnel leave the Army, Air Force and Navy every single year. We have invested significantly in resettlement provision, and the two key organisations that help provide that are the Career Transition Partnership, which helps individuals in that preparation, and the Defence Relationship Management organisation, which partners with businesses to make them aware of what skill sets are available.

[Douglas Ross]

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. Copernicus Technology, based in Moray, was set up in 2008 with ex-RAF engineers and it provides excellent work for the US Department of Defence on an intermittent fault device. Will the Minister consider looking at the benefits of this in the UK, because it increases the availability of the elements that it is used on and reduces support costs for the US, and we could surely do with that here in the UK?

[Mr Ellwood]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. In this and many other areas, we can learn from our US counterparts about what support we can provide for veterans. I will be delighted to meet my hon. Friend afterwards and discuss in more detail how we can move this forward.