First meeting of Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Board announced

Land October 6, 2017

The Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has announced the first meeting of the cross-Government Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Board is to take place on Thursday 26 October.

The board will be co-chaired by Sir Michael and First Secretary of State Damian Green, and will report to the Prime Minister.

Meeting biannually, the Board will drive forward the existing Armed Forces Covenant commitments community across all government departments responsible for delivery, with a specific focus on the priority areas of healthcare, including mental health.

Housing, education, and employment opportunities will also be covered.

The Defence Secretary and the First Secretary of State will also meet separately with leading Service charities and the single Service Family Federations to discuss the Covenant on an annual basis in an effort to ensure the views of the wider Armed Forces Community are represented in government decisions.

So far government has delivered a number of initiatives through the Armed Forces Covenant including The Forces Help to Buy scheme (MoD), which has allowed thousands of Armed Forces personnel and their families to borrow up to half their salary to get on the housing ladder.

Another is the Armed Forces Covenant Fund, which has provided £10m per annum to support mutually beneficial projects and programmes being delivered by organisations across the UK in partnership with the Armed Forces Community.

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Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Board Sir Michael Fallon