David Cameron’s promise to help thousands of traumatised soldiers who can end up in prison after serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan has resulted in just £150,000 being allocated to help them by the Ministry of Defence. The Prime Minister made a big issue of tackling servicemen’s problems by appointing Andrew Murrison, Tory MP for South West Wiltshire, and a former surgeon commander in the Royal Navy who served in Iraq, to prepare a special report on combat stress.
The move came when the National Association of Probation Officers was challenging Government figures saying only around 2,500 former soldiers were in prison for violent and sexual offences – putting the figure at around 8,500. This claim is still a matter of controversy, with the Government denying that so many ex-soldiers end up in jail. At the time, Mr Murrison said: “I am very pleased to be asked by David to do this. He has clearly taken a personal interest in combat stress which bodes well for the future.”
The report was published during the Conservative Party conference and received virtually no publicity for its 13 recommendations. It proposed that the MoD spend an extra £150,000 and asked the NHS to spend £1.225 million employing more mental health staff to draw up recovery plans for disturbed ex-servicemen. Mr Murrison is parliamentary private secretary to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
The strategic defence review endorsed Mr Murrison’s report, Fighting Fit. It promised to implement immediately two of its recommendations and said it would “take forward” the rest. The two recommendations going ahead are the appointment of 15 extra mental health staff to help traumatised ex-soldiers and the creation of a dedicated 24-hour veterans’ support helpline. The cost of the first recommendation falls on the Department of Health, while the second one is not entirely new. Another footnote in the report refers to an archived press release issued by the Department of Health announcing the creation of the helpline last April by the outgoing Labour Government.
