---

Armed Forces Personnel

No, I wish to make some progress on the medical theme. The MOD’s defence medical rehabilitation centre at Headley Court is the premier facility for the rehabilitation of injured service personnel. There is nothing quite like it in the NHS, and both the facilities and the staff who work there are second to none. Personnel with less serious injuries may also be referred to one of the MOD’s 15 regional rehabilitation units in the UK and Germany, which provide accessible, regionally based assessment and treatment, including physiotherapy and group rehabilitation facilities. Over the years there has been a growing awareness of the need to care for military patients’ mental health as well as their physical health. We put a high priority on increasing awareness, providing effective diagnosis and ensuring professional treatment of psychological illnesses. Our mental health services provide community-based health care. There are now 15 military departments of community mental health across the UK, plus satellite centres overseas to provide out-patient care. We have made significant progress in that area and I know that my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary, who has responsibility, is constantly reviewing and updating our delivery of mental health care to serving personnel and veterans. Another important area is the care and attention paid to the families of our serving personnel. Our service personnel on operations need to be reassured that the needs of their families are being met. I have already mentioned the improvements to service families’ accommodation and I want to give a few more examples. We have invested £250 million in education for service children, both at home and in service schools overseas. We have partnered the Department for Education and Skills to make sure that children moving between schools get the best possible deal. We are changing the structure of the services so that moving house becomes less frequent, and we are changing Government policy so that schools are legally required not to disadvantage children from military families who are in transition from one school to another. Last month I announced a new service life insurance scheme which offers guaranteed life insurance to our personnel and their families. We remain committed to reviewing our support for service families so they get the best possible assistance. I understand that during business questions there was a question raised about the MOD’s refusal to purchase more helicopters. It may be worth commenting on that. It is another charge that is without foundation when examined in detail. It reminds me that the Daily Mail used to be called the Forgers’ Gazette, because it used to make up stories and let the perception take the place of reality. The story was that the MOD shunned a chance to hire more helicopters. The Minister of State with responsibility for defence procurement, my noble Friend Lord Drayson, wrote to the newspaper—the letter has not yet been published, and it remains to be seen whether it will be. The letter states:"““On the basis of military advice we rejected the option to lease helicopters as these would be much less useful than new platforms, not just for current operations but also for the long-term.””" I repeat, that decision was taken on military advice. The Minister of State also says that"““we are spending £230M making 14 extra Merlin and Chinook helicopters available to our forces.””" So we are purchasing better equipment than that which was offered for lease. The article also made two false claims about helicopter availability. It said that Apache helicopters were unable to fly on 31 May because they had used up their flying hours, but that was not the case. They were engaged in operations at that time. Nor was a garrison unable to be supplied with mortar rounds by helicopter. The garrison was resupplied by helicopter following the engagement. I make those points because I wish that Opposition Members would question the veracity of what is said in the newspapers.