The competition for round one development funding for VALOUR Recognised Centres is currently underway. Once VALOUR Recognised Centres are established, they will be expected to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including Veterans’ Commissioners.

As of 24 October, 4,687 Veteran Cards have been issued to recipients in Northern Ireland since January 2024.

The Government is committed to ensuring that veterans are able to access the appropriate support they require wherever they live in the UK and will be seeking to more effectively coordinate and cohere the support that is available.

This will build on the successful expansion of the Veterans Welfare Service Northern Ireland to all veterans and their families across Northern Ireland, the work of the 11 Veterans’ Champions in Northern Ireland and of the Northern Ireland Veterans Support Committee, and the forthcoming enhancement of the Office for Veterans Affairs’ presence in Northern Ireland.

Yes, of course. We have made extraordinary progress on veterans affairs in Northern Ireland. I recognise and have always recognised the unique difficulties of that. Veterans’ services, and ensuring that these people are looked after because of their service, should not be at

the whim of different political parties. I am working at pace to establish an outpost of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs in Northern Ireland to create an environment where everyone can work together and pull together all the different services to get veterans’ care in Northern Ireland up to the same level as in England. I look forward to working with the hon. Gentleman and other elected representatives out there from all parties to make sure that we do the right thing.

I plan to visit the Atomic Weapons Establishment this month to personally review the information and consider its release into the public domain.

The £20 million Veteran Housing Capital Grant Programme is designed to contribute to the Government's commitment of ending veteran homelessness across the UK, by ensuring veterans have access to good quality, affordable accommodation that meets their needs.

Applications for funding will be open to housing organisations supporting veterans from across the four nations, including Northern Ireland, and we expect the initial £2 million grant to be open for applications later this year.

We do not publish the specific data relating to how many non-UK veterans have settled in the UK. To capture numbers would require a manual trawl of data and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

We do, however, publish statistics relating to individuals granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK as part of published Migration Statistics and this can be located at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

There are long-standing arrangements in place for non-UK personnel, including those from the Commonwealth, who have served in the Armed Forces to apply for citizenship and settlement either during or at the end of their service. These are set out in the Armed Forces Appendix to the immigration regulations and the Government is currently exploring how to further improve these systems.

The Government is unaware of any deportation action in progress against any veterans of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces at this time and any such action would require authorisation by Ministers. However, any former member of the Armed Forces who have not previously applied for settlement, who wishes to change their immigration status in the UK or who wishes to have their case re-examined is entitled to make an application to the Home Office to have their case looked at.

Veterans UK’s provide the same level of support to Foreign and Commonwealth veterans as they do to any other veteran. They provide relevant advice, information and support to meet veterans individual needs and requirements, including immigration and naturalisation issues. This support continues for as long as required as part of our commitment to providing ‘through-life support’ to veterans

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has had regular discussions on a wide range of issues with office holders in Northern Ireland including the Victims Commissioner and the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner, who was recently appointed to act as a voice and advocate for veterans as they make the transition to civilian life.

The Department for Transport have been leading on the programme to introduce railcards for veterans and, with support from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, have been working closely with the devolved administrations to determine how this is delivered across all parts of the UK. In Northern Ireland, the decision on implementing this proposal is for the Minister for Infrastructure to take.

The UK Civil Service operates in all parts of the Union and our commitment to make it easier for Veterans to join is UK wide. Civil Service employment policies take into account legislation and employment factors throughout the UK, but we are working to implement this policy in Northern Ireland.

DWP’s priority is to ensure homeless people get the appropriate support they need to move into work so they can succeed and rebuild their lives.

The Government recognises that homeless veterans may face particular challenges in getting into employment. Support provided by DWP in Great Britain complements that offered by the Career Transition Partnership and other organisations supporting veterans.

The homeless and ex-HM Armed Forces personnel form two of the specified priority groups for the forthcoming Work and Health Programme. This allows for early voluntary entry to the programme at the most appropriate time in their claim for those who would benefit from specialist employment support to find work. In addition, DWP provides a range of support to help homeless people into work. This includes access to the Jobcentre Plus employment offer with individual tailoring. DWP’s National Employer and Partnership Team also work with national employer and partner organisations to help ex-HM Armed Forces Service leavers into employment.

The Department also recognises as a priority that claimants who have recently become homeless will need time to try and resolve their accommodation issues, and so jobseeking requirements can temporarily be put on hold whilst homeless claimants find accommodation and claimants directed to concentrate on seeking additional support through various homeless organisations instead; and where sanctions are applied they can access hardship payments immediately. The removal of housing support for 18-21 year olds policy includes a wide-ranging set of exemptions which means homeless people will not be affected.

Underpinning DWP’s support for veterans and serving personnel and their families is our network of Armed Forces Champions in each Jobcentre Plus district who support work coaches in understanding the range of support available to Service leavers and ensure they are actively signposted to appropriate organisations.

The Ministry of Defence holds information on grants made to units and charities undertaking projects with, for, and including veterans in Northern Ireland from Legacy Funds, the Covenant Fund and the Aged Veterans Fund for the years 2012-13, 2015-16 and 2016-17, broken down below.

Last year NHS England conducted an audit of their veterans’ mental health services to capture and build on best practice. They sought the views and experiences of the people that access these services first hand, through a national engagement exercise.

NHS England launched the new transition, intervention and liaison veterans’ mental health service on 1 April. This new service has been designed specifically to support and treat both veterans and also service personnel who are approaching discharge.

Further information can be found on the NHS Choices website:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Militaryhealthcare/veterans-families-reservists/Pages/veterans-mental-health.aspx