Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to assess the potential merits of making monthly flights available to family members on the same basis as for service personnel.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides a Northern Ireland Journeys (NIJ) allowance to assist Service personnel and any eligible accompanying immediate family with the cost of return journeys from Northern Ireland (NI) to Great Britain. The scheme aims to provide respite from the additional pressures and restrictions placed on Service personnel in NI and also to reduce familial separation.

Unaccompanied Service personnel assigned to NI are entitled to twelve return passages per annum. Accompanied Service personnel and their accompanying immediate family members are entitled to three return passages. The lower entitlement for accompanied Service personnel is partially reflective of their reduced familial separation. Flexibility has recently been introduced whereby, on occasions where the Service person is unable, or chooses not to, accompany eligible accompanying immediate family members to Great Britain for family or Service reasons, they may travel at a later date. The MOD has no plans to change current NIJ entitlements.