Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Acknowledged
Fragmented evidence hinders understanding of Armed Forces Covenant effectiveness and accountability.
Conclusion
The evidence available to help us understand how well the Covenant is working is currently very fragmented. This makes recognising success, learning lessons and holding organisations to account difficult. The Minister told us there were ‘plans afoot’ to create structures that can improve Government’s understanding of how well the Covenant is working. (Conclusion, Paragraph 36)
Government Response Summary
The MOD acknowledges fragmented data and the importance of improving data collection and governance, describing ongoing stakeholder engagement, roundtables, and a planned annual conference in July 2025 to facilitate knowledge sharing.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
MOD acknowledges with the Committee’s conclusion at Paragraph 36 and accepts the recommendation at Paragraph 37. The MOD currently utilises the Covenant Annual Report to assess the success of the Covenant through monitoring progress, stakeholder engagement, governance, and lessons learned. Furthermore, the MOD gathers direct feedback from cohorts covered by the Covenant via the Covenant website and a dedicated online mailbox, receiving over 5,000 unique hits per month, this is used to identify and where possible, resolve service-related disadvantages. The MOD is aware that the evidence currently available to measure the success of the application of the Covenant Duty is limited and we recognise the importance of improving data collection and governance to target better and more consistent outcomes for our people. Engagement with OGDs, Devolved Governments and the Third Sector continues. The MOD hold regular round tables which provide opportunity for raising awareness of the planned policy and Duty Extension developments, and collaborative discussions including policy development and best practice with stakeholders across Government, the Devolved Governments, Local Authorities and the Third Sector. As previously noted in this response, the Covenant team hosts an annual conference with the Devolved Governments and Local Authorities which are forums to share best practices. The next Covenant conference is to be held in July 2025, which we plan to encourage organisations to share their experiences in delivering the Covenant duty and raise awareness about the unique needs of the Armed Forces community and recognise success.