Guidance

VAPC London: meeting minutes 18 December 2024

Updated 20 March 2025

Venue: Barclays Rise, 41 Luke Street, London EC2A 4DP with some members joining using Microsoft Teams

Time: 4pm to 5.30pm

Present 

• Robin Herzberg (FRH) – Chairman

• Victoria Bell (VB)

• Jim Blake (JB)

• Larry Stone (LS)

• Adam Kurzeja (AK)

• Frances Luczyc Wyhowska (FLW)

Apologies 

• Caroline Flynn Macleod (CFM)

• Annabel Goulding (AG)

• Bishnu Gurung (BG)

• Alpa Raja (AR)

• Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE (CSPH)

• Charles Perrett (CP)

• Brian Willmore (BW)

• Alex Woolgar-Toms (AWT)

Welcome 

The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence 

It was noted that CFM, AG, BG, CSPH, CP, AR, BW and AWT were unable to attend.

Minutes of 18 September 2024 meeting 

The minutes, which had been circulated, were approved and were ready to be sent to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for publication.

Action: FRH 

Matters arising

There were no matters arising.

Meeting with Brigadier Patrick Wright

FRH reported on a meeting which had taken place with Brigadier Patrick Wright, the new head of Armed Forces Veterans Services (AFVS), formerly Veterans UK, on 10 October 2024.

FRH reported that AFVS had a significant number of posts which remained vacant. He had been assured that, although this was leading to significant processing delays, the individual compensation amounts being awarded were not being influenced by budgetary constraints.

FRH reported that the Minister for Veterans and People, Al Carns, had launched a review by 3 senior individuals (a military person, a civil servant, and a charity representative) to advise him on future strategy for veterans. Stewart Blackburn, Chair of the UK Council of VAPC Chairs (UKCVC), was hoping to meet with these individuals.

Communications

FRH reported on a letter from Rob Rowntree and Briony Simpson of the MOD on 7 November 2024 clarifying that the appropriate route to contact the minister was through the sponsors and not through social media.

Members again urged that a meeting with the new minister should be sought as a matter of urgency.

AK confirmed that securing access to ministers generally was proving very difficult as they were all still new into office.

FRH reported that the MOD had decided that VAPC members should be given access to the Defence Gateway system to allow secure exchange of information. All people accessing the system would be required to meet the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS).

Several members reported that they had already received user registration invitations for the Defence Gateway system.

Next report to the minister

FRH confirmed that our next report to the minister was due on 5 April 2025 and that Chris Rose, Vice Chair of the UKCVC, had issued guidance on the format of the report.

It was agreed to start drafting the report soon so that the committee had material immediately available with which to brief the minister.

LS suggested that in relation to “reporting on the lived experience of veterans” our report should state that it was extremely difficult to start a dialogue with the London Boroughs as most did not publicise who their Armed Forces Champions were and, if they did, there was little apparent coordination across London. Nor was there any obvious commonality of approach or sharing of best practice such as that employed at the London Boroughs of Richmond and Wandsworth, which have created a single shared staffing arrangement to manage their housing allocation schemes.

FLW suggested that in the relation to “helping to assess the impact of the covenant and covenant duty” our report should state that there seemed to be no audit and assurance function in place to ensure that organisations that had signed up the covenant were meeting their obligations.

JB expressed concern about the lack of data on how many veterans were on long-term waiting lists for clinical operations.

LS noted a recent article in The Economist highlighting the increasing costs of supporting veterans in the US, where the Veterans Administration (VA) offers a wide range of veterans’ services including dedicated veterans’ hospitals, mortgages for veterans, degree courses for veterans etc. in strong contrast to the UK, where a much narrower range of services is provided.

LS offered to liaise with CFM to secure a speaker from the US Government to address the Employment and Transitioning Common Interest Group.

Strategy instrument

FRH reported that, although a working group had been established to draft the statutory instrument needed to implement the provisions in the VAPC Act 2023, officials were still awaiting input from ministers following various reviews before progressing the drafting.

Strategy development

FRH reported that Stewart Blackburn, Chair of the UKCVC, was updating the current draft of the Strategy Document, but that the final document would need to be informed by the outcome of the various reviews ongoing in the MOD.

Performance data

FRH reported on recent data relating to the War Pensions Scheme (WPS) and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). WPS relates to injury, illness or death before 6 April 2005 and AFCS relates to injury, illness or death after that date.

The committee again expressed strong concerns about the length of time it was taking to get claims processed.

Changes in government policy

FRH reported that, on 27 November 2024, the government had announced new regulations to remove a local connection requirement for veterans seeking access to social housing in England.

Reports from the common interest groups

FLW reported on a recent meeting of the Health Common Interest Group (CIG) which was largely composed of people with a clinical background. She was seeking a meeting to discuss how we might be able to get more London-based General Practitioners signed up to the Royal College of General Practitioners veteran-friendly accreditation scheme for primary care.

LS offered to contact the independent Patient Safety Commissioner’s office to see how veterans’ matters are linked into their work.

JB and AK reported that the Housing CIG had not yet met.

Working with the Greater London Authority and London boroughs

FRH reported that there had been no new developments since the last meeting.

Working with military charities 

FRH reported on meetings that had taken place with Betknowmore (which helps people through recovery from addiction to gambling) and Always a Rifleman (which supports veterans from The Rifles who are in crisis).

LS reported that there was increasing evidence of military charities struggling in the current economic environment and suggested that large charities could do more to support smaller charities or possibly look at synergies in key areas.

AK noted that some regimental associations, particularly those relating to regiments that had been amalgamated, remained well endowed and could do more to help veterans.

FLW reported that members of the committee were invited to join a call with Beyond the Wire (a charity supporting armed forces family members who had been bereaved) on 10 January 2025.

FLW reported on the Forcer Protocol (an initiative to ensure that key information is available to the police when searching for veterans, among others, who go missing).

VB reported on recent studies which revealed that Adverse Childhood Experiences make veterans, among others, more likely to become addicted to gambling, drugs, alcohol etc.

Working with Greater London Reserve Forces and Cadets Association 

LS reported that, because of illness, the proposed meeting with the Greater London Reserve Forces and Cadets Association had been deferred until February 2025.

Any other business

JB expressed concern that the new government’s proposed repeal of the Legacy Act, which had introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions relating to incidents during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, would lead to more prosecutions of veterans.

FLW reported on a new app, ‘weServed’ which is a community platform dedicated to supporting UK veterans.

VB reported on an initiative by the Director-General for People at the MOD, Esther Wallington, to involve senior leaders from industry in delivering behavioral change at the MOD.

Date of the next meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting would take place at 4pm on 19 March 2025 at Barclays Rise or by video conference.