Published: 23 November 2009
And about Time too
New measures have been announced by Harriet Harman, Minister for Women & Equality and Bob Ainsworth, Secretary of State for Defence.
The measures include an Employment & Skills Taskforce, Armed Forces Champions for Jobcentre Plus and a further review of childcare & school place allocation for service families.
These measures add to the progress made by the cross-government 2008 Service Personnel Command Paper, which was published specifically to ensure that families, whether based in the UK or abroad, were no longer disadvantaged in obtaining jobs, or accessing public services such as childcare, education, healthcare, and work.
Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality said:
“The families of our service personnel have always held things together at home, and their task has become even more demanding with the forces fighting away in Afghanistan.
Service wives must have the chance to get training, work and childcare. But, as I have seen first hand from my visits to military bases, that is hard if they have to move regularly and are located on a base miles away from parents and in-laws.
Our new initiatives will make sure that service families have the same access to childcare and school places as the civilian population; that employers recognise that moving from place to place is a part of service life, not a lack of commitment to jobs; and that we look at transport for remote bases so families can access training, work and childcare.”
Bob Ainsworth, Secretary of State for Defence, said:
"The demands that service in the Armed Forces place on our people is unique. They are required to follow orders whatever the danger, and to deploy wherever and whenever they are needed.
The impact of this is considerable, particularly on their families. Last year we introduced 40 measures to ensure that our forces and their families were not disadvantaged in accessing public services.
Today’s announcement builds on this. I am determined that the government will honour its responsibility towards our Armed Forces.
We need to make sure that military life does not make it harder to access jobs, healthcare, school places, childcare and social housing.”
The package of measures is:
· The establishment of an Employment and Skills Taskforce, chaired by Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to support service families’ access to the same employment, further education & training opportunities as the civilian community
·
An Armed Forces Champion for each Jobcentre Plus district who will act as first point of contact for service families and keep up to date with local activities to support service families
·
A further Government review of how well local authority plans on childcare reflect the needs of service families, and what good practice examples and problems there are around transport, and consider if additional guidance is necessary
·
Government will review the guidance given to local authorities on school allocations policy to ensure it reflects the needs of service families
In addition the External Reference Group (ERG) has published - A nation’s commitment to the Armed Forces community: First annual report on progress – which highlights achievements over the past year. It also sets out what remains to be done to maintain progress.
The Service Personnel Command Paper was commissioned by the Prime Minister in November 2007 and published in July 2008.
It set out over 40 commitments to improve the level of support to the Armed Forces Community in key areas like compensation, healthcare, and accommodation. It established enduring principles for the future – of special treatment where appropriate for Armed Forces personnel, for families and for veterans, and that those same groups should not be disadvantaged as a result of service.
An External Reference Group (ERG) was set up to monitor delivery, and to report annually to the Prime Minister, to the Defence Secretary, to the First Ministers for Scotland and Wales, and to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister for Northern Ireland.
The ERG includes representatives of the Naval, Army and RAF Families Federations, and the leading Service charities, as well as the Government departments involved in delivery.
The report highlights achievements over the past year, including:
· the doubling of compensation payments for the most serious injuries
· improved access to affordable housing schemes
· the retention of places on NHS waiting lists when families move
· access to substantial grants to adapt homes for disabled veterans
· free further education for those leaving the Services
Dawn McCafferty, RAF Families Federation Chairman said:
“The RAF Families Federation, with our Navy and Army counterparts have been active members of the External Reference Group charged with monitoring the implementation of the Service Personnel Command Paper.
The report was in itself a significant step forward in highlighting the many challenges confronting military families and we are heartened by the proactive engagement by a number of Government departments and the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Government in seeking to understand and mitigate some of the disadvantages experienced by Service families.
This first annual report illustrates progress made to date and it is our job as independent witnesses on behalf of Service families to ensure that promises made are promises kept.
In some areas, progress has been very encouraging; in others we see the commitments as “work in progress”.
However, the direction of travel is positive and we are pleased to be engaged with officials who are now actively seeking our views as to how they can improve service delivery to the Armed Forces constituency.
We will continue to provide evidence of the unique challenges facing military families and hope that our evidence will contribute to an enhanced appreciation of the unique contribution of military families to the operational effectiveness of our men and women on the front line.”
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