Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
Extend Armed Forces Covenant duty to all government departments with clear guidance.
Recommendation
The Government should extend the application of the Armed Forces Covenant so that all Government departments and the devolved administrations are required to give due regard to the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. As the current duty of ‘due regard’ is inconsistently interpreted, the extended duty must be accompanied by clear guidance so that the duty is clearly understood and is not treated as a tick-box exercise. (Recommendation, Paragraph 29)
Government Response Summary
The MOD accepts the recommendation and is developing plans to extend the Covenant Duty to all UK Government Departments and Devolved Governments, supported by training materials, webinars, and resources to ensure clear understanding and compliance.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The MOD agrees with the conclusion at Paragraph 28 and accepts the recommendation at Paragraph 29. It has been government policy since 2011 for HMG to implement the Covenant principles when making relevant policies and decisions. However, in practice, this policy has sometimes been inconsistently applied as evidenced by discussions at local and national engagement forums, as well as through correspondence via the Covenant mailbox. Putting the Covenant fully into law is essential to further remove disadvantage for the Armed Forces community and will see their needs taken into account during policy development and decision making. Officials are currently developing plans to extend the Covenant Duty to all UK Government Departments, Devolved Governments and to a wider range of policy areas. This will reinforce this Government’s manifesto commitment of resetting the nation’s commitment to the Armed Forces community. It will also seek to fully embed the Armed Forces community in policy development and decision making. The approach taken when applying the Covenant Legal Duty mirrors the Public Sector Equality Duty, which is an embedded part of policy development. The Covenant Legal Duty ensures, like the Public Sector Equality Duty, that consideration of the Armed Forces community is not a one-off action but becomes a continuous process. The MOD continues to work with organisations to ensure the duty is understood. As noted previously, the MOD is also developing training materials, webinar training sessions and downloadable resources which will be available following the passage through Parliament. These will be publicly available through the Covenant website and will be shared across all stakeholders to enable understanding. This will also increase the awareness of the Covenant as the accessible online format will provide materials for training and support to a broad audience. This will also work to embed understanding of what is required by stakeholders to comply with the extended Legal Duty.