Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, led a full day’s debate in the Commons Chamber yesterday on the Armed Forces Covenant Report 2016 – the MoD’s annual evaluation of who the nation is living up to its commitments to our service personnel and veterans.
The MP, who has RAF Boulmer in her constituency, as well as vast swathes of the Otterburn ranges, took the opportunity to praise the good work being done, not just by government, but by small and large businesses throughout the country.
The Covenant, set into statute in 2011, pledges to ensure service personnel, their families and veterans face no disadvantage for their service.
Mrs Trevelyan used the debate to urge her colleagues to do more to encourage their local businesses to think about what more they can do to remove disadvantage to service personnel:
“I am keen that MPs from both sides of the House become more involved in spreading the message about the benefits of businesses in their constituencies signing the corporate covenant. As MPs, we are perhaps more connected than anyone to our local business community, so we have a great opportunity to evangelise about the importance of businesses committing to the covenant and the life-changing impact that that can have for military families. We have more than 5 million SMEs— businesses employing fewer than 250 people—which make up 99% of all businesses across the UK. We have a long way to go to make every business covenant-friendly. We have 1,300 signed up so far, and they are committed in their small or larger way to supporting our military families.”
The MP, who Chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Covenant, was granted the debate by the Backbench Business Committee having pledged the debate would be popular enough to fill a day’s business. In fact, so many MPs wanted to take part, the Deputy Speaker imposed a time-limit on speeches to enable everyone to have their say.
The debate was wrapped up by the Minister, Mark Lancaster MP, himself a veteran, who thanked the MPs for their contributions and commitment to the Covenant.
You can watch Anne-Marie's speech by clicking HERE and read the transcript of the debate HERE.