16.3 |
Military fatalities and the bereaved
66.
Lt Gen Palmer
reported that the review of training for personnel involved
in
bereavement
support had concluded that a bespoke training course would be
neither
“financially
nor practically viable”, but had identified a number of ways in
which they
would be
better supported. The “problems of picking VOs from a necessarily
ad hoc
pool” could
be overcome by including VO duties in general staff training,
ensuring
that
specialist advice was available when needed, and ensuring that the
“often
junior”
VO was properly briefed and supervised.
Lt Gen Palmer expected that senior
commanders
would take a close and personal interest in ensuring that this
was
done properly.
67.
In April 2005,
Lt Gen Palmer recommended that the MOD’s policy on the
occupation
of Service
Family Accommodation by bereaved spouses should be changed to
be
“less prescriptive”:
“... while
bereaved spouses should be offered retention of SFA for two years
we
should
acknowledge that there might be some ... who seek to retain their
SFA for
an
indefinite period thereafter.”48
68.
Mr Hoon
agreed that recommendation, subject to a number of
amendments,
including
that Ministers should be consulted before any decision was taken to
withdraw
housing
entitlement beyond the two‑year period.49
69.
Mr Adam
Ingram, Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 2001 to
2007,
recalled the
exchange in his evidence to the Inquiry:
“... the
view [in the MOD] was, ‘Well, this is going to dislocate all the
other
arrangements,
if you let this widow stay in the house’, and Geoff Hoon just
said
‘So what?
Fix it’, and it was fixed. I think, to the best of my recollection,
we didn’t
have a
deluge of demand in that area. It may have been beneath the
surface, but
it never
became a reality and, if it had been: yes, they can stay there,
yes, we have
70.
The Joint
Casualty Co‑ordination Cell (JCCC) was established in early
2005
to provide
a focal point for casualty administration and notification and
requests for
48
Minute
Palmer to APS/SofS [MOD], 11 April 2005, ‘Draft Revised Policy for
the Occupation of SFA
by Bereaved
Spouses Following the Death in Service of the Service
Licensee’.
49
Minute
APS/SoS [MOD] to Palmer, 13 April 2005, ‘Revised Policy for the
Occupation of SFA by
Bereaved
Spouses’.
50
Public
hearing, 16 July 2010, pages 39‑40.
51
Ministry of
Defence website, Casualty
Procedures.
89