Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost to the public purse was of phase one of the veterans recognition scheme.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her to Question 183283 on 9 May 2023.

Under Phase One, since 2018, Veterans ID cards have been issued to all Service leavers; the cost of this is not separately recorded. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) project team responsible for developing and implementing the new digital verification service and issue of ID cards for Veterans who left service prior to 2018 currently consists of 4.6 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) civil servants and 6.0 FTE contractors in total. This number will fluctuate during the current financial year depending on skills requirements.

The MOD has allocated £1.5 million to phase two of the project for financial year 2023-24. Expenditure of £1.07m in financial year 2022-23 was funded by the Cabinet Office when the project was led by the Office of Veterans Affairs.