Written question asked by Rosie Duffield (Independent (affiliation)) on Monday, 1 September 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 3 September 2025. It was answered by Al Carns (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 September 2025 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.
Armed Forces: Medals
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing the date for the award of the Wider Service Medal from 2018 to 2011.
- Answer
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The Wider Service Medal was introduced to provide medallic recognition for operational activity that delivers a significant and direct contribution to UK objectives in rigorous circumstances, but not necessarily in roles exposed to physical risk.
The date of 11 December 2018 was determined as a clearly defined point in time when Her Late Majesty The Queen approved the initial concept of the Wider Service Medal. At that time there was no intention to include any retrospection, so using December 2018 as the start date for the Medal is considered a balanced approach that recognises the original discussions and Her Late Majesty’s initial approval.
The Department has no plans to review the date of December 2018.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 73909
- Session
- 2024-26
- Subjects
- Armed forces Medals
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2025-09-23 16:18:06 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-25/73909
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- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-25/73909
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-25/73909