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BAFF representation in Service Voting Working Group

(11 March 2010) The three Service Family Federations and the British Armed Forces Federation are represented in a Minister-led Service Voter Working Group, along with the Ministry of Justice and MoD and the Electoral Commission. The following update is provided courtesy of the Naval Families Federation:

The report of the Baha Mousa inquiry will be released later today, Thursday 08 Sep 2011. The Chairman of the Inquiry will make a short statement at 11.00am "to mark the laying of the Inquiry Report before Parliament later in the day". BBC News reports:

The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, says that never again will British troops be deployed in operations like Afghanistan. There is neither the political appetite, nor the money.

Instead, they will be involved in more limited counter-terrorism operations, in cooperation with intelligence agencies and indigenous forces.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has announced a £1.5 billion investment in UK reserve forces over the next 10 years as part of a wide-ranging shake-up of the UK's military. Dr Fox told MPs that the Territorial Army would form around 30% of a 120,000-strong Army by 2020. In a statement to MPs Dr Fox announced major changes in the basing of forces, with RAF installations set to be taken over by Army units returning from Germany. BritishForcesNews reports (18.07.2011).

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The Scottish National Party's devolved Scottish Government published on 26 November their White Paper entitled "Scotland's Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland". The extract below sets out the intended position of current service personnel and veterans in the event of a 'Yes' vote in the September 2014 Referendum. It says that no Scottish service personnel would face compulsory redundancy during their contract period. The Scottish Government also intends to examine how the terms and conditions of service personnel could be improved, for example through the official representation of service personnel.

A BBC Democracy Live report of Dr Fox's statement on 16 May includes video of the announcement:

Previous studies in both the UK and US have found that, compared with regular troops, reserve military personnel had more mental health issues -- including more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- after returning home from operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The latest research at King's College London suggests that difficulty readjusting to civilian life may account for some of that extra risk.

Dudley MP Ian Austin has backed a Parliamentary campaign against "plans to cut pay for members of the Armed Forces". According to the Labour MP's website:

The Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox made a statement to the House of Commons on Monday 16 May 2011 on the Armed Forces Covenant.

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":