Committees

The Armed Forces Covenant

Inquiry

This inquiry will examine the Armed Forces Covenant, the UK’s commitment to ensuring that members of the Armed Forces community are supported and treated fairly. The inquiry will explore whether the Covenant is working, examine areas where serving or former personnel and their families continue to face difficulties, and consider how the Covenant might be updated or expanded in scope. The Government has indicated that changes to the Covenant could be brought in during the next Parliamentary session as part of the next Armed Forces Bill; the recommendations of this inquiry will be able to inform that legislation.

The Secretary of State has granted special dispensation for Service Personnel to provide evidence to the Committee's inquiry. The MOD is content for serving personnel and civil servants to submit written evidence to the inquiry on the understanding that:

  • it is in a personal capacity;
  • in line with long-standing principles as Crown Servants, submissions from those employed by the MOD only comment on personal experiences and not matters of policy; and,
  • those submitting evidence do not reveal private information about other people.

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Friday 24 January 2025. 

Upcoming events

View all events

No upcoming events scheduled

Past events

Tuesday 11 March 2025
1:00pm Public
The Armed Forces Covenant - Oral evidence 11 March 2025
1:00pm
  • Alistair Carns DSO OBE MC MP (Minister for Veterans and People at Ministry of Defence)
  • Sarah Houghton (Director of Armed Forces People Policy at Ministry of Defence)
  • James Greenrod (Head of Armed Forces People Support at Ministry of Defence)
  • Vice Admiral Phillip Hally CB MBE (Chief of Defence People at Ministry of Defence)
Room 15, Palace of Westminster
Tuesday 25 February 2025
10:30am Public
The Armed Forces Covenant - Oral evidence 25 February 2025
10:30am
  • Lt Cdr (Retd) Susie Hamilton (Scottish Veterans Commissioner at Office of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner)
  • David Johnstone (Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner at Office of the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner)
  • Col. James Phillips (Veterans Commissioner for Wales at Office of the Veterans Commissioner for Wales)
11:30am
  • Mike Callaghan (Policy Manager at Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA))
  • Councillor Lis Burnett (Presiding Member at Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA))
  • Kate Davies (Director of Health and Justice, Armed Forces and Sexual Assault Services Commissioning at NHS England)
  • Cllr Gillian Ford (Deputy Chair of the Wellbeing Board at Local Government Association (LGA))
Room 15, Palace of Westminster
Tuesday 4 February 2025
10:30am Public
The Armed Forces Covenant - Oral evidence 4 February 2025
10:30am
  • Mark Atkinson (Director General at The Royal British Legion)
  • Lieutenant General Sir Nick Pope KCB CBE (Chair at Cobseo)
11:30am
  • Rebecca Lovell (Head of Policy at Naval Families Federation)
  • Collette Musgrave (Chief Executive at Army Families Federation)
  • Vanessa Plumley (Acting Director at RAF Families Federation)
Room 16, Palace of Westminster

Contact us

  • Email: defcom@parliament.uk
  • Phone: 020 7219 3113 (general enquiries) | 020 7219 2996 (media enquiries)
  • Address: Defence Committee, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA