Govt agrees to extend Legal Duty following Armed Forces Covenant report

• Read the Government response

Today, the Defence Committee publishes the Government response to its report on the Armed Forces Covenant.

The Government accepts the Committee’s finding that the Covenant is inconsistently implemented, and that there is currently little data available to measure whether the Covenant is making a difference to the lives of Service personnel and their families. The Government’s response commits to providing an update to the Committee on its efforts to improve data collection and sharing on the delivery of the Covenant.

In other areas the Government stops short of endorsing the Committee’s recommendations. For example, the recommendation that it develop a strategy for ensuring more consistent implementation of the Covenant.

Chair comment

Chair of the Defence Committee, Tan Dhesi MP, said:

“I am pleased that the Government has recognised that the Armed Forces Covenant is not applied as consistently as it should be and has agreed to the Committee’s recommendation to extend the Covenant Legal Duty to all central government departments and to the devolved administrations. This is the right thing to do. The Covenant is a solemn commitment that the Servicemen and women who place their lives on the line for us should face no disadvantage due to their service – we need to make sure every part of government lives up to that commitment.

“While the Government’s promise to extend the Covenant in law is a step forward, legislation is only one piece of the puzzle. In our report we found that Armed Forces personnel face a lottery when accessing services. Consistent implementation of the Covenant is essential if we are to make a positive difference to the lives of Service personnel and their families.

“In our report we called for the Government to develop a strategy to ensure that the Covenant is implemented consistently, and it is disappointing that today’s response stops short of producing that strategy. We hope that the Government will have more to say about how it plans to improve implementation when it brings forward the Armed Forces Bill in the next parliamentary session.”

Further information

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Image: MOD