David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for the Legion d’Honneur had been processed by the Personnel and Training, Defence Services Secretary, Commemorations department but had not yet been processed by the French authorities by 24 June 2016.

Mark Lancaster

Following the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) on 6 June 2016 to Question 38675, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received approximately 5,200 applications for the Legion d’Honneur between June 2014 and June 2016. We are unable to provide a breakdown by month. As at 24 June the MOD had submitted 3,750 cases to the French authorities. We are not automatically advised when awards are issued, but a list provided by the French authorities on 13 May 2016 showed that 3,200 awards had been made.

It is not possible to give a meaningful figure for an average waiting time for veterans to receive their awards, as this has reduced steadily, from over a year for initial applications to the current time of around two to three months owing to changes in the processing. Some priority cases, particularly where there are health concerns, are processed much more quickly.

The Department is working closely with the French authorities and we are doing our best to ensure that all awards are issued as soon as possible and at the maximum rate at which they can be produced.