Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department had discussions with veterans' organisations in (a) Fylde and (b) Lancashire on the unique needs of veterans during the development of her proposed welfare reforms.

We welcome the views of veterans and representative organisations.

The Pathways to Work consultation invites people to share their views on the proposals set out in the Green Paper. We would encourage organisations supporting and representing veterans, from across the United Kingdom, to respond to the consultation setting out their thoughts and views on how wounded, injured and sick veterans can best be supported.

To further facilitate input, we held a specific consultation event for Armed Forces and veterans’ organisations to hear their experiences and thoughts directly.

As we develop proposals further, we will continue to consider the impacts of changes, including on veterans, as part of our wider consideration of responses to the Green Paper consultation. We are also providing detailed briefings on the proposals to Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Office for Veterans' Affairs (OVA). Once we have completed the consultation we will be building up to a White Paper, and we will continue to engage with MoD and the OVA.