Agenda item

Mr Bruinvels (Kent County Council Civilian-Military Liaison Adviser and Military Expert), Ms Exall (Strategic Relationship Adviser) and Mr Angell (Kent County Council Member for Ashford Rural South and Armed Forces Champion) were in attendance for this item.

(1)      Mr Angell and Ms Exall introduced the report which provided information on Kent County Council’s work to support Kent’s Armed Forces community, summarising key achievements since the report to County Council in 2018, and sought Members’ support for the proposed future actions.

(2)      Mr Bruinvels provided Members with a document titled ‘How to embed the Armed Forces and Covenant within your Local Authority’ for their information.

Officers then responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -

a)    Ms Exall stated that whilst the exact number of ex-military staff that were working within Kent County Council was unknown, Kent County Council actively worked with the military to promote Kent County Council as an employer of choice for individuals that were leaving the service. Mr Bruinvels added that 67 members of staff within Kent County Council were committed to supporting the military.

b)    Ms Exall referred to the work that had been undertaken between Kent County Council and Kent’s district and borough councils in relation to Armed Forces housing and stated that a subgroup of the Kent Housing Group focused specifically on supporting veterans. Mr Bruinvels said that the Royal British Legion Industries village in Aylesford provided housing, welfare support and care to many members of the Armed Forces community.

c)    Mr Bruinvels said that approximately 4% of individual’s in custody and on community orders nationally were ex-armed service personnel, although this figure also included those that worked as prison officers. He added that Kent County Council worked closely with Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA), a charity that provided lifelong support to serving men and women and veterans from the British Armed Forces and their families or dependents. Kent SSAFA operated and supported a court diversion scheme that would prevent ex-armed service personnel from going to prison in the first instance.

d)    Mr Bruinvels referred to the wide variety of benefits that were available for armed forces personnel, their dependents and survivors in the USA. He said that a Defence Privilege Card was available in the UK through the Defence Discount Service for Veterans and the Armed Forces Community.

e)    Mr Bruinvels confirmed that of the 77,000 veterans residing in Kent, approximately 7,500 to 8,000 were in receipt of a War Pension or War Disablement Allowance.

f)     Mr Bruinvels referred to the recent Forces Connect training sessions in Dover and Canterbury and emphasised the importance in supporting homeless veterans by working closely with housing officers in Kent.

g)    Mr Bruinvels confirmed that training was in place, led by himself and Kate Parkin, Armed Forces Director for Sussex and Kent & Medway Armed Forces Networks, to identify veterans and support veterans with mental health issues.

h)     Mr Angell stated that Kent County Council were working closely with armed forces representatives to target young people and encourage them to join the armed forces.

i)              Ms Exall referred to section 2.12 of the report and confirmed that a programme of community integration would be put in place in 2020 to support families coming into the UK from Brunei.

j)       Mr Bruinvels confirmed that Kent County Council were undertaking employment policy work to ensure that partners of ex-service personnel were not penalised.

(3)      RESOLVED that the report be noted.