The House of Commons Library has produced a useful note on recent developments affecting inquests and fatal accident inquiries (Scotland) into the deaths of service personnel.

The Goverment has announced that families of servicemen and women killed on active duty will benefit from publicly-funded higher education scholarships.The new scheme will apply to the children of servicemen and women killed on active military service since 1990, giving them the chance to take up university scholarships. The Government also announced the continuation and expansion of a scheme to pay tuition fees for Service leavers undertaking level 3 further education or undergraduate higher education courses for the first time, funded by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Ministry of Defence. These announcements implement two of the commitments given in the Conservative - Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement.

BBC News reports that new measures to help soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan deal with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress are due to be unveiled at the Conservative Party conference:

As Republican senators rejected attempts to reverse the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy which prohibits openly gay personnel in the US armed forces, a decade after similar rules were abolished in the UK the head of the British Army's diversity unit confirmed it had been consulted by its military counterparts across the Atlantic.

As part of budget cuts the entire Ministry of Defence is to be dismantled and replaced by four soldiers of fortune sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), The Royal British Legion and Combat Stress have launched guidance to support GPs in identifying and meeting the healthcare needs of veterans more effectively - including accessing the priority treatment to which all veterans are entitled for Service-related conditions.

From one of our earlier articles about Manning Control, a policy used by the British Army to dismiss soldiers who are considered to be "not fit for a full army career":

A Polish pilot who led his squadron into battle from RAF Northolt has been reunited at the airbase with the same Spitfire he flew 67 years ago.

Footnote: BAFF highly values its friendly links with today's Polish Armed Forces personnel through Konwent, the Council of Senior Officers of the Polish Professional Soldiers.

After she died alone with apparently no-one to pay for her funeral, it has emerged that SOE heroine Eileen Nearne MBE had struggled with money because her war pension was stopped by the Government.