Defence Online

Autumn Statement reveals £57.7M for military community

Land November 28, 2016

The military community will benefit from £57.7M worth of investment in projects from the LIBOR funds announced in Autumn Statement.

A total of £57.7M worth of investment in projects will be spent on the military community, with LIBOR funds providing a 230M boost to fundraising for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC), in addition to financing four projects endorsed by the Ministry of Defence.

The four MOD endorsed projects include:

Iraq- Afghanistan Memorial – A £500,000 grant which will fund the unveiling of a memorial which marks the contribution made by those who served Britain in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 25 years. The memorial, which will be installed in Victoria Embankment Gardens in London, will be unveiled in the spring, and serves to remember the brave service pf those who were engaged.

RAF 100 – The Royal Air Force Centenary, which celebrates the history of the RAF, from battle winning performances in the skies of Britain in the country’s greatest time of need, to more recent activities in Daesh in in Iraq and Syria. A total of £2,432,000 has been allocated for the history and future of the RAF, with some funds going towards helping veterans and families attend commemorative events, whilst a large proportion will go on youth engagement programmes and encouraging children to choose STEM related subjects at school.

Invictus Games – A total of £150,000 will go towards sending a UK delegation to Toronto, Canada in September to take part in next year’s Invictus Games. The games are a high-profile sporting event for wounded, sick and injured serving and veteran military personnel.

Service families – A total of £450,000 has been allocated to support families of the Armed Forces, with a large portion going to the Families Federations. The funds will also be used to commission research into important issues which may affect families in the Forces, such as how the Covenant is supporting Army families overseas. The welfare arm of the MOD will receive a share of the funding which will be used  to continue the good work being done to ensure domestic abuse crimes remain low within service families and supporting those who are unfortunately affected.

Other funding includes £20M towards the construction of the defence element of the brand new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) at Stanford Hall.

Welcoming the announcement Defence Minister Mark Lancaster said: “Last week I saw the remarkable progress on the DNRC building work first hand. Today’s £20M LIBOR grant will propel us further towards a truly world-class healthcare facility, and is a further commitment from this government to support our Armed Forces as well as wider society.”

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Defence Minister DNRC Invictus Games LIBOR MOD STEM The Royal Air Force Centenary

Post written by: Abigail Burr