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Defence in the UK

I am delighted to be able to participate in this debate following a year of silence as a Government Whip. First, I pay tribute to those service personnel who have lost their lives in the past year, and to those—some of them severely wounded—who are recovering and trying to rebuild their lives. Some of them are my constituents. That is why the recent publication of the Command Paper setting out clearly what the covenant means, and significantly enhancing it, has been welcomed in my constituency by service personnel and their families. However, I very much hope that the decisions relating to the increased payments set out in the armed forces compensation scheme are handled swiftly as well as realistically. There has been more than one example locally of service personnel who have suffered the loss of multiple limbs—two or three limbs—and serious trauma still not being considered for a maximum payment, or near-maximum initial payment, which has at times been difficult for people to understand. I noted the Minister's comment that the MOD has not always got it right in some cases.