Veterans: Northern Ireland

(asked on 12th February 2015) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent to help members of the armed forces living in Northern Ireland with their transition back to civilian life in each of the last three years; and how much of that sum was spent on housing.


Answered by
Lord Astor of Hever Portrait
Lord Astor of Hever
This question was answered on 3rd March 2015

Assisting our former Service personnel transition to civilian life is of major importance, as indeed is having in place a robust and effective resettlement system that helps our Service personnel on a number of levels.

While the Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not centrally record how much is spent on transitioning Service personnel to civilian life, the following table shows the number of individuals with a Northern Ireland postcode who have taken advantage of the services offered by the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) and are in employment.

CTP Programme

BT Postcodes

Placements

in Northern Ireland

BT Postcodes Placements

Outside Northern Ireland or unknown location

Year

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

Employment Support Programme

6

3

5

4

4

5

Full Support Programme

95

130

112

76

74

89

BT postcodes placements outside NI or ‘unknown location’ – means individuals have recorded a NI address but their work location is outside NI (i.e. they may have a permanent residence in NI which they return to at weekends or holidays or they have not informed CTP of a permanent change of address)

The Employment Support Programme is for those who have served more than four but less than six years. These individuals do not receive the Individual Resettlement Training Costs Grant nor do they have an entitlement to Graduated Resettlement Time (i.e. paid time off for vocational training). However, they can take advantage of the many briefings available and they are supported in their search for employment by the CTP consultants and Job Finding Service, including access to the online jobs portal ‘RightJob’. They can also take advantage of resettlement training courses on a ‘standby’ basis in their own time.

Service personnel who have served for six years or more are entitled to the Full Support Programme. This entitles them to the Individual Resettlement Training Costs Grant (IRTC) which is worth £534 per person.

In addition, Service Leavers may claim Travel and Subsistence costs during their training; the amount of training is dependent on length of service up to a maximum of 35 days for those who have served for 16 years or more.

The Joint Service Housing Advice Office (JSHAO) is the MOD’s tri-Service focal point set up to provide Service personnel and their families with civilian housing information for those wishing to move to civilian accommodation at any point in their career, and to those during Armed Forces Resettlement to assist the transition to civilian life. Delivered through briefings, Housing Matters magazine publication, and one to one discussions where necessary. JSHAO also manages the MOD Referral Scheme supporting social housing in conjunction with Local Authorities and Housing Associations. The cost for providing advice is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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