---

Armed Forces: Future Defence Policy

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Freeman has already said much of what I should like to say far better than I will, but I shall say it all the same. Other noble Lords have spoken of the strategic and tactical military and diplomatic implications of the war in Afghanistan and of the wars in Iraq and the Balkans. They have not gone away any more than the threat from Iran and from an unstable Russia, which can only be countered by a strong NATO. In terms of defence, the EU is irrelevant, although it costs us money which can ill be spared from the defence budget. I want to review the human and social cost of the commitments that this Government have made without being prepared to pay for them. I believe it is utterly wrong that we should continue to pledge support for the operation of DfID, which far exceeds the Armed Forces budget. In so doing, we fail in our duty to the men and women, both soldiers and families, who serve our country. The Government are to have a defence review in due course. Let us hope that next time we shall not repeat the mistake of committing our Armed Forces to a scale of war for which little or no provision has been made. In the case of Afghanistan, the recent murder of mentors must surely put an end to plans to remain there for many years. Let us give them aid but not the flower of our youth. It seems to have become the norm for the covenant between the nation and the Armed Forces to be broken. Over the years, since a Tory Government allowed the Treasury to require the sale of the married quarters estate, many families, year after year, have lived in squalid and often unhealthy quarters. Every year the MoD intends to do something about it next year, because the money set aside has had to be diverted. The defence estate now intends to improve 4,000 quarters that are in the worst condition. The well-being of their families matters to soldiers, and the failure to observe the harmony requirement can only lead to broken homes—to children growing up without their father or mother. This is a major cause of potential broken marriages and social breakdown. The Government, in Command Paper 7424, have written of the nation’s commitment and of cross-government support for the Armed Forces, their families and veterans. It purports to meet some of the crucial concerns, such as the great disparity between civil and military compensation and the absence of provision for the adaptation of homes for men and women who have lost three limbs. We are told that there is to be a review of compensation for military injuries. What will it actually do for one of the most severe disabilities—post-traumatic stress disorder? The experience of the Gulf War veterans over many years has been one of persistent delay, prevarication and difficulty, in contrast to the experience of US Gulf War veterans. The MoD has, in the Command Paper, recognised that the health needs of veterans can rarely be met, as my noble friend Lord Freeman said, by sending them to the NHS where they are unlikely to receive the care that they need from psychiatrists who are wholly unfamiliar with their traumatic military experience. I hope that the Minister can reassure us that active work is now being done to set up pilot schemes to improve veteran access to the mental health services that they need. At present there is all too little provision. I am in touch with a small new charity—Talking2Minds—which is trying to set up some small local clinics to provide veterans, many of whom feel very isolated, with some combat stress therapy, but that should be a national responsibility and I hope that it will be. The Government claimed in 2008 to be providing cross-government support to our Armed Forces, their families and veterans, and to have appointed an Armed Forces advocate in each ministry—I wonder who it was in the Treasury—and in devolved Administrations. An external reference group has been set up in the Cabinet Office to monitor all this and government departments have to ensure that policy is not made, nor legislation enacted, without taking account of the impact on the service community, whether UK or overseas-based. Who monitors this? Has it condoned the reported power of the Treasury and of the MoD, acting under budget restrictions, to make decisions solely based on cost-cutting which apparently take no account of threats to safety? Both the Nimrod and the modified Sea Kings were known to be unsafe. Vital decisions on air-worthiness, it is said, were made not on the basis of safety but to cut costs, and apparently that was compounded by extensive failure to keep safety under review. If there is money for the Olympics, surely there should be enough to meet the needs of the services. The people of England are slow to wrath but they are becoming angry. How long will they tolerate a system which may send men and women to their deaths if remedying life-threatening faults will cost more money than the Treasury—not the country—is prepared to sanction? The Government’s solution is to set up committees, but I hope that they can do better than that.