My Lords, I shall be brief. I apologise to your Lordships’ House for failing to remind the House of my particular interest as a serving member of the Armed Forces and therefore subject to the provisions of the Bill. I hope that Amendment 15 is uncontroversial. It relates to the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees, among which there are 13 regional committees—nine in England, two in Scotland, one in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. They were created under Section 25 of the Social Security Act 1989 and are mandated to simply do two things: act on behalf of the Ministry of Defence—to be very much its eyes and ears on the ground and be an independent body that can offer candid advice to Ministers—and, equally, to support veterans. But, because of the Social Security Act 1989, they are mandated to act only in the areas of war pensions and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. While I will not give a number for this, it applies to only a relatively small number of veterans. At their wish, this amendment simply tries to update their role to that which they are currently carrying out.
Indeed, the Government have recognised for some time that this needs to be done. When I was a Minister some seven years ago, we were potentially going to
include a similar amendment in the Armed Forces Act 2016 but we did not, so I am simply trying to correct that wrong. It is important because there is a feeling that, for some years now, the Government have been advertising that they should be acting on behalf of veterans when it comes to the Armed Forces covenant—but they are not mandated to do so, and this amendment simply attempts to do that.
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I recognise, however, that it is potentially a slightly clunky amendment. While the Minister can say many things, there are some things she cannot say. It would probably be much better if there were to be a government-supported Private Member’s Bill. I have no doubt there would be lots of keen champions and Members of Parliament at the other end itching to take it on. But I recognise that because due process has to be followed it may be difficult for my noble friend to be specific in supporting that today.
I am pleased that, by bringing this amendment forward in Committee, there has been progress. For example, since then terms of reference have been agreed with the VAPCs to enable them to set up an informal parallel structure so that they can begin to support veterans through the Armed Forced covenant. That will be renewed after one year. All that my amendment tries to do is empower the Secretary of State after that review after one year to put the new role on the statutory footing we have talked about for some time.
While I do not intend to divide the House on this amendment, I hope that my noble friend will be able to recognise why this is important, and that she will be able to say she will potentially look at this and that legislation may well be necessary; mind you, we have said that before. I hope that we can finally move forward on this issue.