To those who have served and are serving in our armed forces, we owe a huge debt. It is they who allow us to realize the freedoms that are afforded to us in the United Kingdom. While we are reminded and reflect on their service on occasions like Armed Forces Day and Remembrance Day, we must remember that the sacrifices that our armed forces make are much greater than can be acknowledged by these few occasions.
Too often neglected, though, are the families of service members who sacrifice tremendous amounts throughout their lives. Supporting these families is essential to supporting our veterans, and providing them with the proper tools and resources to cope with the unique challenges that they face must be included in any Veterans’ care approach.
As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Veterans Group, the distinctive challenges that our Veterans and their families face are of particular importance. Together – with my colleagues on all sides – we intend to maintain a strong focus from government and policy makers on the importance of veterans, young and old, to our communities and way of life and to work with the relevant services and other organizations to build a strong continuing profile to enhance our work supporting veterans and their families.
I know from my work as a Blackpool constituency MP, where we have a vibrant and impressive collection of British Legion and other ex-service organisations, where annually we run not just an Armed Forces Day but a whole week of activities, what a broad section of demography those responsibilities cover. All the way still from veterans of World War II and Korea, through to those who have served recently in Iraq and Afghanistan - and not forgetting conflicts such as Suez, Cyprus, Malaya, Northern Ireland and other theatres of service including the first Gulf War and the Balkans - plus of course all those who completed National Service.
To show my support for our veterans, every year I attend the unique 25-year strong day-long Blackpool Legion Poppython which has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the Royal British Legion, and which was recognised by Parliament with a motion I put down that congratulated all who participated, volunteered, donated, and organized the event. The funds that are raised are used to support the invaluable activities of the British Legion. My local British Legion also helped to spearhead awareness with a mass petition which I supported to No.10 of the need to strengthen protection for our War Memorials.
Across the United Kingdom there are numerous charities that are attempting to promote Veterans’ issues and support our service members. Helping to fund these charities is Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), an independent UK-wide Trust that was born by an endowment of £35 million pounds from The Big Lottery Fund in 2011. FiMT’s remit is to use this endowment over a 20-year period to promote a holistic successful and sustainable transition for Service leavers and their families back into civilian life.
Often prominent in the media have been stories regarding the challenges that Veterans face upon their return from deployment. The transition from the life of service to the civilian life is one that is unique to our veterans and their families. Given the intense combat experiences of recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan which have often brought terrible injuries and strain to our service personnel, both mental and physical, this has acquired extra and urgent resonance. As such it is important that there are networks available to connect people dealing with this transition with others who have similar experiences.
With this in mind, FiMT commissioned the Transition Mapping Study, which aims to understand the transition process for Service personal returning to civilian life. The report not only outlines the most prominent difficulties to veterans, but it also provides recommendations as to how government, policy makers, and indeed all members of the community can aid in the transition. This report is representative of the Trust’s funding of extensive research and publishing of exhaustive reports on issues that are of great concern to all of us who care about the unique challenges that our Veterans face.
That’s why I am glad that this Wednesday 4th March in Parliament we are hosting a key presentation by FiMT, Generating Evidence for Veterans Policy Makers on Wednesday 4th March 2015 at 4:00pm in Dining Room A, Palace of Westminster. The event will allow for the Trust to inform the attendees of the work that they supporting, the mission that they have, and the way in which they intend to accomplish their future goals of “attempting to provide an evidence base that will influence and underpin policy making and service delivery in order to enable ex-Service personnel and their families to lead successful civilian lives”. I hope that the presentation by FiMT’s chair Tony Stables and Chief Executive Ray Lock and the Q&A reception that will follow it will provide a positive opportunity for all those in Parliament to hear about and reflect on ways in which we can improve the services that exist to support our ex-service personnel, veterans and families and set out some pointers for renewed activity by Government and in the new Parliament that will be elected in May.