LEADER CONTACTS OCC

Dear One Common Cause

Many thanks for your email to Nick Clegg MP. Nick has asked me to contact you on his behalf. I apologise for the delay in responding but I hope you will understand that, due to the sheer volume of correspondence that Nick has been receiving, it can take some time for us to reply.

Nick and the Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned by the support offered to our injured veterans and have called on the Government to do much more to give them the assistance they require. Indeed, last week at Prime Minister’s Questions, Nick raised the issue of injured veterans having to pay for their own treatment with the PM. We believe that the military covenant has been broken and that our government, and previous governments, have failed to look after our servicemen and women and ex-service personnel. We have outlined a series of proposals in this area, including a dramatic improvement in medical and counselling services.

Nick has, moreover, led a very public campaign to put service personnel and their welfare at the heart of defence policy. We would ensure that no soldier, sailor or airman goes into harm’s way on less basic pay than a new recruit to the police or fire service. Currently, there is widespread dissatisfaction over pay among the lower ranks. This has a dreadful impact on morale and retention. We will find the money to pay for this from inside the MoD. It’s not right that we have one civilian for every man or woman in uniform, and almost 1,000 people working in communications alone. The problem is that over 51,000 (over a quarter of the Armed Forces) receive less in basic pay than a new recruit police constable or fire-fighter. The basic pay for the lowest paid Private is £16,681 and 13,000 lower-ranks personnel receive under £17,000 a year basic pay. Even with operational allowances, they receive less than a new recruit to the police force. Our proposals would bring the pay of the lower ranks in line with the hourly-rate of trainee and development-level fire-fighters, as well as new-entrant police constables.

Thank you once again for emailing.

Best wishes,

Bxxx Mxxxxx
Office of Nick Clegg MP