Neil Hamilton, MS for Mid & West Wales, and Leader of UKIP Wales has welcomed news of more funding to help improve the life of veterans in Wales.
Mr Hamilton, a member of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs committee, who regularly campaigns for improvements, is pleased to see more investment to support former members of the armed forces.
He said:
“I welcome news of additional funding to help veterans in Wales. For too long they have not had anything like the level of support they need.
“We have a moral obligation to make sure we look after our Veterans and provide the appropriate help.
“Many veterans are physically disabled or suffer mental health problems and it is vital they are looked after as they deserve.
“This extra investment is most welcome and will, I hope, go some way to giving these people, who have served their country proud, the support they need.”
More funding for Wales’ specialist mental health service focused exclusively on military veterans, additional funding for Armed Forces Liaison Officers and a new resettlement guide to support people leaving the Armed Forces form part of a new package of more than £500,000 Welsh Government support for veterans.
This includes:
- an additional £235,000 annually to fund Veteran National Health Service Wales (VNHSW) from 2021/22 onwards
- £275,000 per annum to fund Armed Forces Liaison Officers across Wales until 2023
- £50,000 to train prosthetists in Wales in new technologies
- £120,000 to support military charities in tackling loneliness and social isolation
- £250,000 to support Armed Forces children.
Government funding for the VNHSW, now £920,000pa, is an increase of 35%. In addition to creating Highly Specialist Veterans Clinical Lead posts within the service, the additional annual funding for 2021/22 maintains the provision of therapy previously supported for the last three years by Help for Heroes across Wales.
BLESMA, the military charity for limbless veterans and the VC Gallery in Haverfordwest, are among charities who have worked to tackle loneliness and isolation amongst veterans in Wales over the last year.
Before the pandemic, BLESMA hosted meals alongside digital training sessions; during the pandemic they transferred their book club to run online.
The VC Gallery in Haverfordwest, supported older veterans to gain digital skills and get online during the pandemic, kept in touch with regular phone calls, ran digital art clubs and provided food parcels and welfare checks to their most vulnerable members.
