Armed Forces Veterans

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 12 March 2019.

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Photo of Michelle Brown Michelle Brown UKIP 2:01, 12 March 2019

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. There are 51,000 veterans in north Wales alone, and although we have Veterans' NHS Wales, there are only three psychologists to look after their mental health needs. That's clearly not viable, but that isn't really what I'm driving at here. But having said that, I don't think it's fair to expect Government and the NHS to do everything, and we should be encouraging self-help whenever possible. Tŷ Ryan was a project in Wrexham that involved veterans taking part in the building of one and two-bedroomed apartments for occupancy by veterans. Tŷ Ryan made a huge difference for those veterans involved. It improved their mental health, as well as providing much needed housing. For some time, my office has been in contact with Woody's Lodge, a charity concerned with the welfare of veterans. Like me, they see how self-build projects can benefit veterans, and that around north Wales there are plots of unused brownfield land that could be used for these projects, often owned by local authorities. So, would you agree to meet with myself and representatives of Woody's Lodge charity for veterans to see if we can develop a way to locate and release unused local authority land for future veterans' self-build projects?