Clause 8 - Armed forces covenant

Armed Forces Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:45 pm on 25 March 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Stephen Morgan Stephen Morgan Shadow Minister (Defence) (Armed Forces and Defence Procurement), Shadow Minister (Defence) 2:45, 25 March 2021

I beg to move amendment 7, in clause 8, page 9, line 16, after “subsection (3)” insert—

“or by regulations under subsection (3A)”.

This amendment, with Amendments 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 widens the scope of the Bill to address all matters of potential disadvantage for service personnel under the Armed Forces Covenant including employment, pensions, compensation, social care, criminal justice and immigration.

Photo of James Sunderland James Sunderland Chair, Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill, Chair, Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill, Chair, Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 8, in clause 8, page 9, line 17, at end insert—

“(d) a relevant employment function,

(e) a relevant pensions function,

(f) a relevant compensation function,

(g) a relevant social care function,

(h) a relevant criminal justice function, or

(i) a relevant immigration function.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 3, in clause 8, page 9, line 19, at end insert—

“(aa) a relevant government department;”.

This amendment, with Amendments 4, 5 and 6 would place the same legal responsibility to have ‘due regard’ to the Armed Forces Covenant on central government and the Devolved Administrations as the current drafting requires of local authorities and other public bodies.

Amendment 12, in clause 8, page 9, line 24, at end insert—

“(3A) The Secretary of State may, after consulting the Welsh Ministers, make regulations by statutory instrument to—

(a) specify the person or body in relation to whom the relevant functions in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) apply, and

(b) define what each relevant function in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) means.

(3B) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 9, in clause 8, page 9, line 29, at end insert—

“(3A) The Secretary of State may by regulations made by statutory instrument—

(a) specify the person or body in relation to whom the relevant functions in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) apply, and

(b) define what each relevant function in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) means.

(3B) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 10, in clause 8, page 11, line 13, after “subsection (3)” insert—

“or by regulations under subsection (3A)”.

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 11, in clause 8, page 11, line 16, at end insert—

“(d) a relevant employment function,

(e) a relevant pensions function,

(f) a relevant compensation function,

(g) a relevant social care function,

(h) a relevant criminal justice function, or

(i) a relevant immigration function.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 4, in clause 8, page 11, line 18, at end insert—

“(aa) a relevant department in the devolved administration in Wales;”.

See explanatory statement for Amendment 3.

Amendment 13, in clause 8, page 12, line 27, after “subsection (3)” insert—

“or by regulations under subsection (3A)”.

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 14, in clause 8, page 12, line 30, at end insert—

“(d) a relevant employment function,

(e) a relevant pensions function,

(f) a relevant compensation function,

(g) a relevant social care function,

(h) a relevant criminal justice function, or

(i) a relevant immigration function.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 5, in clause 8, page 12, line 32, at end insert—

“(aa) a relevant department in the devolved administration in Scotland;”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 3.

Amendment 15, in clause 8, page 13, line 1, at end insert—

“(3A) The Secretary of State may, after consulting the Scottish Ministers, make regulations by statutory instrument to—

(a) specify the person or body in relation to whom the relevant functions in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) apply, and

(b) define what each relevant function in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) means.

(3B) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 16, in clause 8, page 13, line 43, after “subsection (3)” insert—

“or by regulations under subsection (3A)”.

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 17, in clause 8, page 14, line 2, at end insert—

“(d) a relevant employment function,

(e) a relevant pensions function,

(f) a relevant compensation function,

(g) a relevant social care function,

(h) a relevant criminal justice function, or

(i) a relevant immigration function.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Amendment 6, in clause 8, page 14, line 4, at end insert—

“(aa) a relevant department in the devolved administration in Northern Ireland;”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 3.

Amendment 18, in clause 8, page 14, line 18, at end insert—

“(3A) The Secretary of State may, after consulting the relevant department in the devolved administration in Northern Ireland make regulations by statutory instrument to—

(a) specify the person or body in relation to whom the relevant functions in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) apply, and

(b) define what each relevant function in paragraphs (d) to (i) of subsection (3) means.

(3B) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”

See explanatory statement for Amendment 7.

Clause stand part.

Photo of Stephen Morgan Stephen Morgan Shadow Minister (Defence) (Armed Forces and Defence Procurement), Shadow Minister (Defence)

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sunderland. I rise to speak initially to amendments 3 to 6, which are in my name.

The amendments are designed to ensure that central Government and devolved Governments have the same due regard to the covenant that the Bill places on local authorities and other public bodies. The amendments go to the very heart of Labour’s prescription for a Bill that attempts to outsource Ministers’ responsibilities for delivering the armed forces covenant for all service personnel, veterans and their families. As drafted, the Bill places significant new legal responsibilities to deliver the covenant on everyone from local councils to NHS foundation trusts, clinical commissioning groups and school governors, but not to Departments or Ministers.

Over the past few months, I have met many groups named in the Bill, including council leaders and armed forces champions from across the country, and I have been repeatedly struck by the good work that they are doing in places such as North Tyneside, which in 2018 became the first local authority to fund an armed forces officer, and Rushmore, which is closer to home for me, in Hampshire, where the Labour council is pioneering innovative ways to reach armed forces communities to ensure that their views are heard. Their good work, however, is often limited by the lack of resource and direction from the centre. I have also spoken to forces families in my constituency and to organisations such as SCiP Alliance—the Service Children’s Progression Alliance—as well as service charities. They, too, are clear that there should be a consistent approach and that national Governments should be subject to the same duty as councils.

It is true that in some places there is low awareness of the covenant, but many of the policy areas in which members of the armed forces community experience difficulty are clearly the responsibility of national Government, or are based on national guidance provided to other delivery partners. Ministers say that they do not want to be too prescriptive about the outcomes, for fear of stifling innovation at local level, so let me provide some real-world examples of the ways in which that approach damages outcomes for veterans.

I have campaigned for some time to ensure that coroners record veterans’ suicides. In doing so, I saw answers from responsible Ministers and the coroners themselves. Each considered it to be the responsibility of the other to set policy on the issue. Such Catch-22s are allowed to persist and prevent us from making the well-meaning promises of the covenant a reality. The Minister has spoken of his desire to raise the floor of what is delivered by the Bill, which is a commendable aspiration, but that can only happen when central Government are responsible. Ministers could then set measurable, enforceable standards, which are ultimately responsible for delivering.

The current drafting also means that serving personnel, for whom many services are the responsibility of the MOD, will not benefit from the Bill. Government will therefore continue to evade any real responsibility to raise the standard of service accommodation, which we have heard from witnesses is in an appalling state. That will create a two-tier covenant that applies to some in forces communities, but not others, and will risk reinforcing the postcode lottery that the Minister himself concedes is the experience of many veterans.

The Minister also let the cat out of the bag that the Government are not serious about delivering for our armed forces with this Bill. At Defence questions in February, the Minister said that

“the legislation is very clear that it does not specify outcomes, but simply ensures that a set of principles is adhered to.”—[Official Report, 1 February 2021; Vol. 688, c. 668.]

Without the statutory guidance that will underpin the legislation, our armed forces are without the principles and without the outcomes, and this Government will be allowed to get away from responsibility for delivering.

Amendments 7 and 18 are also in my name. Amendment 7, as grouped with amendments 8 to 18, is designed to widen the scope of the Bill to include all areas of potential disadvantage for service communities. The Minister has previously said that the narrow focus of the Bill on housing, healthcare and education is because they are the areas of greatest concern for armed forces communities. Although those are undoubtedly critical areas for the armed forces community, the Bill does not fully cover them, and many areas of disadvantage are totally left out, including employment, pensions, compensation, social care, criminal justice and immigration. We heard from the witnesses who came before the Committee what, in practice, that omission will mean: nothing on social care, where service charities continue to highlight fundamental problems with the availability and cost of care; nothing on the shameful scandal of Commonwealth veterans forced to pay eye-watering fees for UK citizenship, despite their service to our country; and nothing for the cohort of war widow pensioners who, according to the Defence Committee, continue to endure a “grotesque injustice”.

In short, Ministers risk creating a two-tier armed forces covenant and a race to the bottom on standards in those areas that have been omitted. The amendments seek to ensure that areas of disadvantage that have been persistently highlighted in armed forces covenant annual reports will be finally addressed. We are challenging the Government to deliver on their promise to enshrine all of the covenant into law, not just pick and choose based on their opinion. Given that the statutory guidance, which will give real meaning to the Bill, will not be published until after Royal Assent, it is still unclear to what extent the limited areas included in the Bill will be addressed.

As I noted earlier, functions that sit within the MOD, such as service accommodation, are also out of scope. Section 343 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 contains powers for the Secretary of State to add bodies and functions. That rare oversight is welcome, but it is not clear in what circumstances those powers would be used. With Ministers suggesting that the Bill will not have prescribed outcomes, there seems to be no review mechanism that would trigger or consider the addition of new public bodies. Service charities such as the Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes would be keen to see some clarity on that, so perhaps the Minister can speak to that in his response.

I strongly expect that the Minister will reject the amendment, but both he and I know that in doing so he will be concealing that he has not truly fulfilled his party’s manifesto commitment to enshrine the armed forces covenant into law.

Photo of Johnny Mercer Johnny Mercer Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (jointly with the Ministry of Defence)

I think some of that speech was written before my evidence session yesterday, where I promised to ensure that statutory guidance is available as soon as possible. I will try to accelerate that, because I want Members to have a copy. We need to look at how it has been done before and what the regulations are around this stuff, but I am keen that we all work as a team to try to get this done.

Clause 8 amends part 16A of the Armed Forces Act 2006 by inserting six new sections, which will impose on certain public bodies across the UK a duty to have due regard to the three principles of the armed forces covenant, and provide for the Secretary of State to issue guidance and widen the scope of the new duty.

The principles of the armed forces covenant are: the unique obligations of, and sacrifices made by, the armed forces; that it is desirable to remove disadvantages arising for service people from membership, or former membership, of the armed forces; and that special provision for servicepeople may be justified by the effects on such people of membership, or former membership, of the armed forces.

Proposed new sections 343AA to 343AD to the 2006 Act impose the duty in each of the four nations of the United Kingdom. The new duty will apply where particular types of public body are exercising certain of their public functions in key areas of health, housing and education that are vital to the day-to-day life of our community. The bodies and functions specified in each of those sections are different because they reflect the different systems in place in each of our four nations. However, they aim to cover those bodies that are responsible for developing housing allocation policy for social housing, homelessness policy and the administration of disabled facilities grants, which can be vital for injured veterans.

In education, we know that our service families face difficulties, due to their mobility, in getting children into schools and, more troublingly, in ensuring access to the necessary assessments and support when they have children with special educational needs or disabilities, as it is described in England. We know that service children have specific wellbeing needs. The duty will target those who are responsible for that, ensuring that they understand and consider the very specific needs of our community’s children.

In healthcare, again, much has already been achieved, but service families and veterans still experience disadvantages, often as a result of their mobility and other healthcare requirements caused by military service. This duty will apply to all bodies that are responsible for commissioning and delivering healthcare services across the UK.

New section 343AE provides:

The Secretary of State may issue guidance relating to the duties imposed”.

He must consult with the respective devolved authorities, where relevant, and other stakeholders before publishing the guidance. That guidance will be crucial to ensure that the bodies subject to the new duty understand the principles of the covenant and the ways in which members of our armed forces community can suffer disadvantage arising from service.

Finally, new section 343AF provides that the Secretary of State may widen the scope of the new duty to include additional functions and bodies in other areas. Before doing so, he would be required to consult with the relevant devolved authorities and other stakeholders, and any amendment would have to be made by way of affirmative regulations, requiring the express consent of Parliament. I will therefore resist the amendment.

Amendments 3 to 18, which I will move on to now, make effectively the same four changes to the sections imposing a new duty in each of the four nations of the United Kingdom. These amendments appear to have three main aims: to include central Government Departments and the devolved Administrations in the list of bodies subject to the duty; to widen the policy areas to be covered by the new duty to include employment, pensions, compensation, social care, criminal justice and immigration; and to give the Secretary of State power to make regulations, subject to the affirmative procedure, to determine which public bodies and public functions would be covered in the new areas.

Clause 8 covers public functions in healthcare, housing and education, exercised by the local and regional bodies that are responsible for these services. These are key areas of concern for our armed forces community. Our experience shows that the most important factor that enables the successful delivery of those services for our community is awareness of the covenant and of how disadvantages can affect the ability of service personnel to access those services. The services are delivered at the local level across the UK by public bodies with a knowledge of their area and an understanding of the needs of their community, which is why they are included in the scope of the proposed duty. However, the serving armed forces are very mobile, and it is vital that all who deliver these key services are aware of the challenges that service personnel can face in avoiding experiencing disadvantage because of their service. That is why we are focused on improving service delivery and raising awareness of the covenant at the local level in this legislation.

Central Government’s delivery of the covenant is regularly scrutinised through parliamentary processes, such as Defence oral questions, the House of Commons Defence Committee and all-party parliamentary groups, and through the Covenant Reference Group, which includes external partners from the service charity sector. Other public bodies are not subject to this level of scrutiny. In addition, at present the Armed Forces Act 2006 requires the Secretary of State for Defence to lay an annual report before Parliament to cover the effects of membership or former membership of the armed forces on servicepeople, their families, and veterans in the fields of healthcare, education and housing, and in the operation of inquests. Devolved Administrations and other bodies are required to be given an opportunity to contribute their views to this report. This duty to report will remain a legal obligation, and it remains the key, highly effective method by which the Government are held to account for delivery of the covenant.

Our legislative proposals build on that by introducing a duty to have due regard to the covenant principles in the three areas that make the most difference to the lives of the armed forces community. I do not question the importance of the additional policy areas that these amendments seek to add to the scope of this duty: they are clearly very important areas for the serving and veteran communities. Indeed, this legislation will sit alongside a range of existing initiatives and programmes aimed at supporting this group. For example, the Department is currently piloting a guaranteed interview scheme to support veterans applying for jobs in the civil service. We also, of course, support those transitioning from service through the career transition partnership and the new defence transition service, which provide bespoke services supporting service leavers. The Government work with veterans and employment charities, and we recognise the important role that service charity partners play in supporting veterans into employment.

In relation to pensions and compensation for the armed forces community, the armed forces pension scheme is one of the best in the public sector, and—almost uniquely—is non-contributory. Our compensation schemes, the war pension scheme and the armed forces compensation scheme compensate for injury, illness or death caused by service on a no-fault basis. The independent medical expert group advises the Government on the medical and scientific aspects of the compensation schemes and related matters, and it provides independent assurance that armed forces compensation scheme policy and decision making reflect contemporary medical understanding of the causation and progress of disorders and injuries.

The importance of social care is also recognised. As the Government set out in the spending review, we are committed to the improvement of the adult social care system, and we will bring forward proposals this year. Our objectives for reform are to enable an affordable, high-quality and sustainable adult social care system that meets people’s needs while supporting health and care to join up services around people. We therefore do not believe that it would be appropriate to include social care in this measure at present, not least because our experience suggests the social care issues that all veterans can face are most often linked to their age, rather than to their service. It should be remembered that social care provision is already considered on a case-by-case basis, so we expect that those delivering such care are already taking service into account where that is necessary.

Clause 8 already includes a power in new section 343AF for the Secretary of State to widen the scope of the duty to additional public bodies and functions in the same or additional areas following a consultation. That renders unnecessary the suggested new clause to allow the Secretary of State to make regulations to define which bodies and which specific functions in the new areas are covered by the duty. I therefore hope that right hon. and hon. Members will agree not to press the amendments.

Photo of Kevan Jones Kevan Jones Labour, North Durham 3:00, 25 March 2021

I rise to support the amendments and to say to the Minister that he has read his civil service brief well—if he could do it a bit more slowly, we might be able to follow it. I do not think he addressed any of the points in the amendments. Again, like a lot of things that the Government do, the spin and presentation is very different from what will actually be put into practice. We should not be surprised by that, because we have a Prime Minister who is an expert at saying one thing and doing another.

The Bill would put the covenant into law, but there is very limited movement on that, with an emphasis on local authorities and the local level. I accept that the delivery of services is done at local or regional level, but we have to recognise that a lot of the policy areas are influenced by national decisions.

The Minister might care to read the 2008 Command Paper entitled “The Nation’s Commitment: Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans,” which was the origin of the covenant report and was launched by the then Minister for the Armed Forces, Bob Ainsworth. Its key point is to ensure that armed forces personnel, veterans and their families are not disadvantaged because of their service to the nation. I implemented it, and we had armed forces champions across main Government Departments. The main emphasis was to try to hardwire support for the armed forces community, including veterans, serving personnel and their families, into policy making. By excluding Whitehall Departments, the Bill will make it very difficult, even with the best will in the world, to ensure that some Departments have due regard to those things when they consider policies. If it is good enough for local authorities and local health boards, it should be good enough for the national Departments.

The scope of the Bill needs extending if the covenant is to have teeth in practice. As my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South has mentioned, that move would be supported by the Royal British Legion and the British Armed Forces Federation, because a lot of the issues that affect members of the armed forces are completely outside the scope of local authorities, the devolved Administrations and others. One issue that has been raised—I know a later amendment addresses this—is around foreign and Commonwealth soldiers. That is a Home Office policy in which due regard has clearly not been given to those brave servicemen and women who have loyally served this country, and who will be disadvantaged, because of their service, in getting leave to remain. I do not understand the idea that the main Government Departments should not be covered.

The Minister says that those Departments are scrutinised by Parliament and various Select Committees, and so on, but if we had “due regard” in law it would mean that when policy was being determined within Departments, they would have to have due regard to the effect on service personnel, their families and veterans. That would have a strengthening effect, which was certainly what was intended when the idea was launched in 2008. An opportunity is being missed to ensure that the main Departments will be covered by the legislation.

Another issue that has been raised is something that lets off the MOD. The Minister says that most of the areas in question concern things that are delivered locally by local authorities, but one of the biggest complaints that the service family federations have raised is armed forces housing. There are examples of local provision not being fit, so that it would not be accepted if was provided in the public sector. There are areas that fall within the remit of the MOD that are not covered by “due regard”, and so those things will continue.

An opportunity in the Bill is being missed and the publicity around it—that it will be a sea change—is not being lived up to. The onus is being put on local authorities and providers. I support that, but they are not the problem, to be honest. As with a lot of things in this country, the delivery of local services is often to be commended. The innovation in local authorities and the things we heard about in evidence from the devolved Administrations are light years ahead of what happens in Whitehall.

As to the importance of local delivery, I accept that it might be patchy and might vary, but that came out of the work of the MOD pilot on the welfare pathway, which I think worked very well. It was taken up by the coalition Government and renamed the armed forces covenant. There has been a willingness on the part of local authorities and local bodies to make change. However, if it is good enough for them, it should be good enough for Departments, and I have not yet heard a good reason why those responsibilities should not fall to central Departments as well.

I understand how Whitehall works, and that civil servants might not like that to be part of the checklist that they have to check off when they develop policies. However, it would certainly strengthen the position with respect to making sure that armed services personnel and their families, and veterans, are not disadvantaged, and that they are at least taken into consideration and given due regard when new policies are brought forward.

The Minister talks about the statutory guidance, and I thank him for the draft that we have been sent. We will perhaps talk about it later, but it will only be as good as the enforceability for veterans, service personnel and their families, so that they actually get redress when things go wrong.

As I have said, I think that this is an opportunity missed, and I cannot yet see a good reason why what I have suggested should not be covered. If the amendments were accepted, the Government could quite rightly say that the armed forces covenant had been put into law. Without them, there will be very limited scope for the armed forces covenant to have any legal backing at all. With that, I conclude my remarks.

Photo of Johnny Mercer Johnny Mercer Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (jointly with the Ministry of Defence) 3:15, 25 March 2021

I hear what the right hon. Gentleman says. I respect him and the points he has made, but I disagree with him.

Photo of Stephen Morgan Stephen Morgan Shadow Minister (Defence) (Armed Forces and Defence Procurement), Shadow Minister (Defence)

I listened very carefully to what the Minister had to say, and I think it is clear that the Government cannot do half a job in fulfilling their manifesto commitment to enshrine the covenant in law. Nor should Ministers be allowed to outsource the delivery to cash-strapped local authorities and other stretched public bodies, especially during a pandemic. They must take responsibility themselves. I will not press amendments 3 to 6 and 7 to 18 now, but I give notice that we may return to them on Report. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill.