Ill-Health Benefits - Non-attributable ill-health benefits
Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Bill
10:15 am
Mr Gerald Howarth (Aldershot, Conservative)
The hon. Member for Portsmouth, North (Syd Rapson) and I were in Iraq last July, as was the hon. Member for Hereford. If one is to cope with those conditions, one must be fit not only to fight, but to cope with the very different climate. Members of the armed forces are therefore required to maintain fitness. Again, that is not the case for us. We are not required to play football, although judging by the way Brighton and Hove Albion are going, perhaps they will enlist the Minister to join their team and sharpen it up a bit, even though he will have to be a bit fitter before he does so. None the less, there is a strong culture in the armed forces of playing sport. If one plays sport, and particularly contact sport, the risk of injury increases.