1. How is the Welsh Government supporting veterans in Wales? OQ56885

The Welsh Government is committed to continuing and building upon the support and services provided for our veterans in Wales. Our work and continued progress are highlighted in our third armed forces covenant annual report, which was published on 22 June.

Thank you for that answer, Deputy Minister. We owe a debt of gratitude and our support to the men and women in our armed forces. Recent events in Afghanistan will have brought back difficult feelings for those who have served there and their families. There are groups in my constituency, such as the Newport armed forces and veterans breakfast club and the Newport Veterans Hub, who provide mutual support. On top of their usual support in helping veterans, I know that the veterans hub have arranged for open sessions with clinical therapists to help those who have found the events of the last few months difficult. They have also provided a peer support scheme to connect veterans with one another to share experiences and offer mutual support. Awareness of these support networks is crucial. How can the Welsh Government help to link up veterans and their families to support that is available to ensure that we are there for them as they have been for us?

Can I thank the Member, Jayne Bryant, for her question? I know the Member is very much committed to supporting veterans not just in her own constituency, in her own community, but across the country. I agree with her absolutely in saying that Wales is a nation that is proud of our armed forces and veterans, and I completely agree that we owe that debt of gratitude to all those men and women who have served our nation in Afghanistan. 

In collaboration with our partners, we continue to provide support to former members of the UK armed forces in Wales who've served in Afghanistan. Support is available from Veterans' NHS Wales for veterans living in Wales, who provide support with mental health issues, along with our CALL mental health helpline. The Member also raises the incredible role that those voluntary and community organisations take in supporting veterans in communities across the country, and we also owe a debt of gratitude to them actually. And we know from our armed forces expert group that, in Wales, the way that we are able to do what we do in supporting veterans is actually by working collaboratively, which is something we continue to do. We do have the Veterans' Gateway, which is a one-stop shop, but we make sure that we continue to push that message out there to make sure people are aware of the support available, both at a Wales level, but also at a local level. And can I thank the Member again, and pass on my thanks, and that of the Welsh Government, to the work of those organisations in her constituency?

Minister, I completely echo what you say, as well as my colleague from Newport West, in that we owe an incredible debt to veterans. Research from the Royal British Legion revealed that members of the armed forces community are exposed to events and challenges that make them more vulnerable to loneliness and isolation. They found that one in six members of the ex-service community reported experiencing some relationship or isolation difficulty, the equivalent of around 770,000 people in the United Kingdom. As we all know, and I'm sure many of you have heard, loneliness is linked to high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's, and an increase in the risk of premature death by 30 per cent. People experiencing loneliness are more likely to visit GPs and hospitals, and more likely to enter local authority care, so tackling loneliness and social isolation not only alleviates the suffering of local residents, but is also an important part of preventative public health work. Local authorities, I'm sure you can appreciate, do play a key role in helping to reduce loneliness and social isolation in communities, and are ideally placed to understand the levels of loneliness in their areas specifically, and identify who is at risk and also to act upon it. What discussions have you had, Minister, with local authorities to improve the measures they can take to help members of the armed forces who are feeling lonely and socially isolated? Thank you. 

Thank you. Can I thank the Member, too, for her question and her words of support for our armed forces communities and veterans in Wales? And she rightly points out some of the challenges that those who've served may face when they transition to civilian life as a consequence of their experience as well. And that's why we've made sure we've invested in things like Veterans' NHS Wales, including a 35 per cent increase in investment support. But at a local authority level too, we are very proud of the work that our armed forces liaison officers are doing and, indeed, in conversations with counterparts in the UK Government, they've been very keen to look at actually how we're doing that on the ground and how we can have that point of contact and to co-ordinate. So, we do work closely with the AFLOs who are represented on the armed forces expert group, but also through the Welsh Local Government Association. But, as always, we're always keen to build on that support, identify any continuing gaps and make sure veterans have that access to support. And I think one way to do it maybe is to make sure that we share with Members more regularly things like the Veterans' Gateway, so we can all use our own networks to make sure people are aware of that as well.