Agenda item

Damian Paterson, Deputy Director of the OVA, will be dial in to update on the progress of the Strategy for our Veterans and to discuss how the OVA can work with local government to build upon and further strengthen the coordination of support for veterans.

The Chairman welcomed Damian Paterson, Deputy Director of the OVA, to the meeting and invited him to give his presentation.

Damian thanked the Board for the opportunity to come and speak to them and he began by thanking local councils for everything they did to support the armed forces community and veterans in particular. He said that they were a key partner and the OVA would be looking to work with them closely in the future.

Damian explained that the OVA was a new unit in the Cabinet Office set up in October 2019 to improve the coordination of veteran services and advice. He said that moving the oversight of veterans’ affairs from the Ministry of Defence to the Cabinet Office would enable a more co-ordinated approach to the support veterans and their families need, drawingon all parts of Government to assure improved delivery and support.

Damian said that the OVA had taken on responsibility for the UK Government’s Strategy for our Veterans and its associated Action Plan, published in January 2020 had been tasked by the Prime Minister to tackle two specific challenges – namely, changing perceptions about veterans in society and tackling negative stereotypes; andensuring that veterans and their families know where to find information to support them should they need it. He added that the overall aim was to not just to ensure that veterans were not disadvantaged in society compared to other citizens but to consciously provide them with positive advantages.

Damian went on to talk about the OVA’s work programme as set out in the report but he added that unfortunately, Covid-19 would undoubtedly have an impact on the timescales for its delivery. However, he did say that the OVA were still hoping to be able to launch the veterans’ railcard on Armistice Day in November 2020.

Damian finished by asking Board members to consider how local government could best work with the OVA to ensure the best possible outcome for veterans and to address some of the specific questions in his report.

Following Damian’s introduction, there followed a discussion during which the following points were raised:

·       It was considered that there were definitely challenges for councils around supporting veterans but good practice was out there and needed to be shared more widely. Having the link with the MoD in Johnny Mercer MP was considered important.

·       There were many CVS groups working with the armed forces and veterans providing valuable support and this would benefit from greater central coordination.

·       OVA had an opportunity to form much clearer partnerships with the voluntary sector, which would improve awareness of the local offer and help to identify gaps in support that could be plugged.

·       It was considered that transition remained a key issue. Whilst the vast majority of veterans did not experience significant problems, a minority would need coordinated support from a variety of partners.  There was an opportunity to get better at predicting which veterans will have the greatest needs. The work of the Defence Transition Service was noted. There was important work going on for example around giving veterans priority for social housing and the MHCLG was currently looking at how effective this had been.

·       Could LGA arrange regional meetings of Veterans Champions to help share best practice?

·       There was considered to be an opportunity for more linkages to be made with local authority Health & Wellbeing Boards (HWB).

·       Most councils had veterans’ champions but they were not always given the necessary profile and status to get things done.

·       Could a live database be set up with the LGA and OVA in order to better disseminate information, coordination and best practice?

·       It was considered important to understand local veteran communities so that support could be targeted – for example, places with Gurkha communities.

·       Lead members asked for information about which areas they had settled in? Damian said he would circulate a map with this information. He added that the 2021 census would include a question on veterans which should help to give a better picture of their locations and needs.

·       Birmingham set up a sub-group of its HWB to look at veterans’ needs which reported back into the main HWB. This was considered to be a good model for integrating local and national issues.

·       There was a welcome for the OVA’s intention to move from not disadvantaging veterans over the rest of society to positively ‘advantaging’ them.

Decision

Members of the Community Wellbeing Board noted the update.