Sunday, October 13, 2024

This is an ARCHIVED article at baff.org.uk. Information and/or links may well be out of date.

In today's Prime Minister's Questions, the PM replied to a question about the Military Covenant from SNP Parliamentary Group Leader, Angus Robertson MP. Mr Cameron said that "We are the first Government to put the military covenant properly into law and to deliver almost every year big improvements in the military covenant ... and we report on it every year." So in what way is the Covenant in fact legally enforceable?

It's perfectly true that the Coalition's Armed Forces Act 2011 made it a legal requirement for the Government to report to Parliament annually on how it is doing in fulfilling the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. It's also true that progress continues to be made, including in Scotland, with much good work being done by Government, agencies, charities and companies under the "Covenant" banner.

But the Armed Forces Act 2011 doesn't legally oblige the Government to do anything about the Covenant, except to report to Parliament, and it doesn't confer any rights upon service personnel, veterans or families to enforce anything by law.