#armedforcescovenant

A great deal of positive action has taken place since I was at Lambeth Palace for a special conference earlier this month to honour the Armed Forces Covenant.

The Armed Forces Covenant Training Day closely followed the signing of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant in February by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, committing the Church of England to recognise and care for Armed Forces personnel, veterans and their families.

The General Synod quite rightly wanted more following their debate in July 2014, when I had successfully moved the Amendment calling on the Church of England as a major employer to sign the Corporate Covenant, rather than the Community Covenant. General Synod had voted overwhelmingly in favour as they reflected on the challenges facing Britain’s Armed Forces Community. A lot of messages involving health, education, employment and housing came out of the recent training day with more than 80 representatives present, including people from 34 dioceses, serving personnel, chaplains, Service charities and representatives from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) including Defence Minister Earl Howe. 

We heard at first hand about the Church's pastoral and spiritual support for the Armed Forces Community, where as Earl Howe acknowledged in his keynote speech, Service Chaplains are at the forefront in meeting the "welfare, emotional and spiritual needs" of the Armed Forces Community, "negotiating the moral maze" in a tent in Afghanistan or a Portakabin in the Falklands. He called them "good Samaritans assisting local families."

Earl Howe told us all that our Church is "a forward thinking organisation ....an organisation that constantly asks what more can it do for its Country".

So what did I see as the underlying message of the Covenant? “To ensure the Military are not being disadvantaged”. After all, they protect us and serve us in the interests of freedom and democracy.  Indeed, Earl Howe considered our signing of it as "an extension of a fundamentally Christian desire to help the disadvantaged or the marginalised".

Surrey County Council (CC) Civilian-Military Partnership Board recognises that more and more service families live beyond the 'wire' and want to settle in our communities. They want our help and despite some natural reluctance, the service families want to be helped and to be completely integrated into their now local community.

In Surrey, we have embarked on a major PR initiative to tell the good news of the transferable skills that the military can bring to the local community. Surrey CC and some of its partner stakeholders already recognise the benefits of employing ex-service personnel and reservists: dedicated to work, dependable, loyal and very trusted. We have even signed up to the Military Career Transition Partnership “Operation Broad Bean” which means all Surrey CC vacancies are now advertised on the Military Job Vacancy site.

We are also keen to support Reservists’ and Service Personnel families and are ensuring there are adequate transport links and understanding employers. Surrey CC has just won the MoD “silver award” for recruiting Reservists and Ex-service Personnel.

We work closely with Service Charities as can the Church to identify and then signpost those Veterans in need, who in later life find their daily routine restricted and challenged through age, disability, war wounds or financial problems. They want to help and they have substantial funds to distribute. Use them.

The conference also heard about the needs of service children, including the problems then can encounter as they move from school to school according to where their parents are posted.

I want the ‘wire’ to come down with no barriers in reaching out to work in partnership with the Armed Forces for the common good. Much more work needs to be done as we understand each other’s needs but there is definitely a firm commitment from us all to take the Covenant forward.