Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45624, on war widows' pensions, what recent progress he has made with his Department's review of its policy on compensation for war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
I remain sympathetic to the circumstances of this group of widows and have asked Ministry of Defence officials to continue to consider potential options given the financial and legal considerations we are faced with.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to restore compensation for war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Government remains sympathetic to the circumstances of those affected. We are reviewing the position, but need to take account of the wider consequences for other public sector schemes of making retrospective changes.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 38217, on his Department's BME pay gap, where the information about this is held; and what estimate he has made of the cost of providing the information.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Ministry of Defence does not capture and report data on hourly earnings, and therefore does not provide comparative data in this way.
The Department has recently published an Equal Pay Audit 2015 report which can be found at the following address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mod-equal-pay-audit-report-2015
This Audit presents a comparison of male to female and White to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) annualised average salaries in the period 1 October 2014 to 1 October 2015. This meets the Department's obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty to provide information on its workforce identified by the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to notify war widows and widowers of support groups they can access.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
All widow(er)s of serving members of the Armed Forces are sent a letter of condolence and a comprehensive Bereavement Pack which is tailored to their family circumstances and provides full details of the support available to them.
When Veterans UK are notified of the death of a Veteran the Veterans Welfare Service send a leaflet to the widow(er) detailing support groups. The Veterans Welfare Service also visit and assist in accessing further support.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2016 to Question 27234, how many of the 135 women referred to in that Answer became widows after 31 March 1973.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
A war widow(er) is the spouse of an ex-Service person whose death in Service, or subsequently, was attributable to injury or illness caused by Service in the Armed Forces before 6 April 2005.
Of the 135 women who remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015, 110 registered as a war widow from 1 April 1996 onwards and 20 women registered as a war widow prior to 1 April 1996. The Ministry of Defence is unable to determine the registered date for war widows prior to 1996, and therefore cannot confirm whether they were registered before, or after, 31 March 1973.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what representations he has received from war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005 on reinstatement of their war widow's pension.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
I met the War Widows Association earlier this year and during our meeting they put forward their case for the reinstatement of War Widow’s Pensions for those widows who had remarried or cohabited before 1 April 2015.
Our policy on retrospection remains the same. For those who have already surrendered their pension due to remarriage or cohabitation, if that relationship ends they can apply to have their pension restored for life.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of war widows who remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015, 195 war widow(er)s remarried regardless of when they became a war widow(er).
After becoming a war widow prior to 6 April 2005, 135 women remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015.
In line with Defence Statistics' Rounding Policy for War Pension Scheme data, figures have been rounded to the nearest five.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of women who become war widows before 6 April 2005 and remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015, 195 war widow(er)s remarried regardless of when they became a war widow(er).
After becoming a war widow prior to 6 April 2005, 135 women remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015.
In line with Defence Statistics' Rounding Policy for War Pension Scheme data, figures have been rounded to the nearest five.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to support the mental health of armed forces veterans; and how much funding his Department allocated to that purpose in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The provision of veterans healthcare, including mental healthcare, is primarily the responsibility of the National Health Service in England and the Devolved Administrations who work in close partnership with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and service charities to ensure that veterans get the best possible care.
The MOD is determined to ensure that veterans who require help are provided with appropriate support including through the Veterans UK helpline; Veterans Welfare Service (VWS) and the Veterans and Reserves Mental Health Programme (VRMHP) which provides mental health assessments for veterans with operational Service since 1982. For these services it is not possible to disaggregate specific costs incurred in support of veterans' mental health from wider budgets.
In addition to the support outlined above, MOD funding is provided for remedial treatment at Combat Stress homes for war pensioners with service related mental illnesses caused before 6 April 2005. In Financial Year (FY) 2014-15 the MOD spent almost £690,000 on this treatment and for FY 2015-16 we have allocated some £665,000.
NHS England spends £1.8 million per year on mental health services for veterans, including 10 veterans' mental health teams. Up to a further £18 million of NHS England funding is in place to provide the Combat Stress six-week intensive post-traumatic stress disorder programme for veterans, and an additional £2 million of LIBOR funding is being provided to Combat Stress to help veterans with alcohol problems, which can be indicative of underlying mental health issues. Help for Heroes has received £2 million of LIBOR funding for its "hidden wounds" work which offers low-level improving access to psychological therapies services to veterans.
Subject to the forthcoming spending review, a further £8.4 million of Government funding will be provided over the next five years to help the most vulnerable veterans who have mental health problems.