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Defence in the UK

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his support for the armed forces and the encouragement that he gives us to continue to use RAF Lyneham. It is good to see that the community there is very supportive of our continuing to do so. However, he knows that we must try to get the best that we can from the estate and that we must use money efficiently. If we waste money on the estate, we cannot spend it on kit and equipment and the health and welfare of our service personnel. As I hope the hon. Gentleman knows, I am trying to bring the issue to a conclusion as soon as possible. I cannot promise that he will be on the good end of that news. We have not yet made any decisions, but we will inform the House as soon as we can about the outcome of Project Belvedere and the potential reconfiguration of our helicopter force basing priorities. The hon. Gentleman is worried about that and wants to try to take the opportunity to keep Lyneham alive. I cannot say whether he will be successful or otherwise. The central plank of Government efforts is the service personnel Command Paper, which was published last summer. That unprecedented piece of cross-Government and devolved Administration work is designed to optimise the support that we provide to our armed forces. It is based on two central principles: first, that no disadvantage should flow from service in our armed forces; and secondly, that in certain circumstances it is right and proper for our armed forces to be treated in a special way, particularly when people have been injured in the course of their duty. I will not rehearse the 40-plus pledges in the Command Paper, but let me give one example. By most assessments, British military training is the best in the world, offering a broad range of high-quality education. I am amazed by the amount of technological know-how that is required of our servicemen and women and how quickly they learn it. We must reinforce that aptitude as they retire from service. That is why the Command Paper now entitles all those who have served six years or more to free education up to degree level on retirement from the forces. That is a tremendous package to help our people to transfer successfully back into civilian life. The extraordinary opportunities offered during a services career now continue beyond it. Veterans, society and British businesses are all beneficiaries of the proposal.