Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of employing private investigators to undertake surveillance activities to determine the validity of an injury claim made by (a) a member of the armed forces and (b) a veteran.
The MOD has effectively used surveillance undertaken by private investigators as evidence for a defence of dishonesty/fraud. I can confirm that the outcome of surveillance has also led to the MOD defending or repudiating a number of high value cases on the grounds of fundamental dishonesty or significantly reducing the amount awarded in damages as appropriate. There is no difference in the way that surveillance is used on serving or former personnel.