Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities uphold the Military Covenant.

Mark Lancaster

For information on this Department’s engagement with Local Authorities on the Armed Forces Covenant I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2015 to Question 8395 to the hon. Member for Northampton South (Mr Mackintosh).

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-09-04/8395/

In addition, since I provided that answer I have also met with the Chairman of the Local Government Association and with the Minister for Housing and Planning at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). We are collectively planning to review the work undertaken by Local Authorities to deliver the Covenant and expect to complete this by March 2016. This will help to further identify best practice and where to target future work.

The Minister for Housing and Planning will write to all Local Authorities setting out examples of best practice and reminding them of the need to honour their commitments under the Covenant. I will also address a conference of Local Authority Community Covenant Champions in London on 4 November 2015. I hope that members’ Local Authority Armed Forces Covenant champions will be there.