Public Consultations

Cyfaddaster a Phartneriaeth: Materion ar gyfer yr Adolygiad Amddiffyn Strategol

Date: 5 Mar 10

The Defence Green Paper 2010 - Discussion

The Defence Green Paper, "Adaptability and Partnership: Issues for a Strategic Defence Review" (Cm 7794), was published on 3 February 2010.

The Green Paper is the first part of the process leading to a new Strategic Defence Review, which will decide the future shape and role of the Armed Forces. We plan to conduct this review soon after the general election. The Green Paper does not reach any conclusions on future defence policy – this is for the Strategic Defence Review - but it rather sets out the questions that a Strategic Defence Review will have to answer.

We believe it is important to take account of a wide range of views in preparing for the Strategic Defence Review and hope that this Green Paper will help encourage and inform public debate. We would be particularly interested in hearing your thoughts and views on the key questions arising from Chapter 6 which are summarised below:

• Given that domestic security cannot be separated from international security, where should we set the balance between focusing on our territory and region and engaging threats at a distance?
  
  
• What approach should we take if we employ the Armed Forces to address threats at distance?
  
  
• What contribution should the Armed Forces make in ensuring security and contributing to resilience within the UK?
  
  
• How could we more effectively employ the Armed Forces in support of wider efforts to prevent conflict and strengthen international stability?
  
  
• Do our current international defence and security relationships require rebalancing in the longer term?
  
  
• Should we further integrate our forces with those of key allies and partners?
  
  
• To what extent and in what areas should we continue to refocus our current efforts on Afghanistan?

More detail on the background to these questions can be found within the Defence Green Paper at the following link:

Date: 2 Feb 10

Poll for Defence Green Paper 2009 - Results

The MoD is currently developing a Green Paper, which will be published in early 2010. This is in preparation for the Strategic Defence Review which will take place early in the next Parliament.
 
In developing the Green Paper, we were interested in hearing what the general public thought about a number of issues. In order to allow as many people as possible an opportunity to give their views we provided an open invite for people to complete an on-line poll which ran between 12 Nov and 10 Dec 2009. 4,582 completed surveys were received.

The results of the poll are published below.

Date: 11 Nov 09

The Nation's Commitment to the Armed Forces Community - A Public Consultation

In July 2008, the Service Personnel Command Paper The Nation’s Commitment announced a cross-Government strategy to improve the level of support given to Service personnel, their families and veterans. See Related Links

The Paper contained 47 commitments on a range of welfare issues including healthcare, education and skills and employment opportunities. The good progress against these commitments was reported in The Nation's Commitment Annual Report in late 2009. See Related Links

We now wish to build on this work for the long-term. Our vision is clear. It is a nation where, as a matter of routine, all services are provided to the Armed Forces community in a way that does not disadvantage them and provides special treatment where appropriate.

Last year we completed a public consultation on how we might achieve this. This was outlined in a Consultation Paper The Nation's Commitment: Consistent and Enduring Support which listed a number of ways to support the Armed Forces community. See Related Links

The consultation closed at the end of October 2009. The responses have been analysed and captured in the Summary of Responses. The Summary sets out the broad themes that emerged from the responses and provides a detailed analysis of the views expressed on each of the consultation options.  See Related Links

Ministers now plan to consider these responses and decide the best way forward to support the Armed Forces community.

We would like to publicly thank all those who provided responses and took time to contribute to the consultation.

A number of common themes emerged from the responses – some of which are outlined below:

• An Armed Forces Charter and improved use of the Ombudsman service enjoyed the most support but only by a small margin.

• There was a general view that increasing awareness of the issues faced by the Armed Forces and improving communication between the Service community and service providers would be an effective way to address existing shortfalls.

• There was a view that there was little wrong with the existing routes to recourse and that the introduction of new measures risked causing duplication and confusion.

• The Armed Forces community saw the attractions of a legal duty on public bodies as they believed it would ensure consistent levels of service across the UK and keep the issue in the public eye. Local Government responses tended to highlight the challenges of a legal duty due to the potential burden it would impose and additional resources it would require.

• A number of respondents, including Local Authorities, said it was difficult to identify the Armed Forces community and therefore ensure they received the required standards of service. The community could improve this by identifying themselves at the point of service delivery. Linked to this, a high number of respondents asked for a formal definition of the Armed Forces community including veterans.

If you have any questions, please contact the Service Personnel Command Paper Team:

Email:DCDSPERS-SEC-SPCPMAILBOX@mod.uk

Post: Service Personnel Command Paper Team
Ministry of DefenceLevel 7, Zone J,
MOD Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB

Date: 3 Jul 09

Consultation Document and Responses to UK Defence Spectrum Management 2008 - 12

Documents related to the consultation on: An Implementation Plan for Reform and the responses on the reform of UK Defence Spectrum Management in 2008 - 12, and on extending market principles to the Ministry of Defence's use of the radio spectrum are below.

Date: 7 Sep 08

UK Defence Spectrum Management 2008-12

A statement on: An Implementation Plan for Reform.

This statements sets out how the Ministry of Defence plans to reform UK Defence spectrum management in 2008 - 12, and plans to extend market principles to the Ministry of Defence's use of the radio spectrum.

Alongside this statement the Ministry of Defence is publishing the Defence spectrum demand study.

Date: 29 May 08