My Lords, I thank the Minister for her usual informative and fluent explanation, and for the detail of the department’s Explanatory Memorandum. It is always a privilege to speak in any debate graced by the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig. One learned from the historical viewpoint of the emergence of the covenant. I will be brief.
Paragraph 7.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum says that the duty aims
“to address the disparity of awareness of the Covenant”.
Paragraph 7.5 talks about “former service members” and a “broad approach”, and says that
“those outside the ‘traditional’ family may well be impacted by Service life.”
Those are important statements and it is good that they are highlighted in the papers before us.
The tradition of Armed Forces Day helps to address the challenge around the covenant. I do not think we can praise Armed Forces Day too highly. It is good that it has re-emerged after Covid.
The covenant helps evoke patriotism. Professor Helen Thompson, a left-leaning professor at Cambridge, recently said in the New Statesman that Britishness is still best defined as monarchy and the military. That is not for debate now, but if one is considering patriotism, the covenant and Armed Forces Day, that is a relevant foundational statement to make.
Further, paragraph 10.2 of the Explanatory Memorandum refers to local government associations. One local government unit, Flintshire County Council in north-east Wales, has a very fine record of helping those who were in the Armed Forces. Armed Forces Day in Flintshire is always heavily subscribed by the local government. The current Armed Forces champion is county councillor David Evans OBE. He is worthy of a mention, as was his predecessor, Andrew Dunbobbin, who is now the police and crime commissioner for north Wales. The county of Flintshire has a very fine record.
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I also note that in all these matters there is always the major input of the reserves. The reserves are undervalued. I do not think they get the praise they should have, and I am certain that they are important across the board in our communities in upholding the standards that we usually say are under attack. Certainly the reserves in Wales have a fine reputation.
I think I should declare my presidency of the training ship “Tuscan” and my recent, five-year presidency of the Army Cadet Force Association Wales. When I was listening to the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig, I thought that the covenant would have been a godsend to a 1950s greenhorn conscript national serviceman, but that is by the bye.
My last point is to ask the Minister whether she will give some detail on the reference to “focus groups” at paragraph 10.6 of the Explanatory Memorandum.
Who organises them? How many were there in each of the focus groups and was there any feedback that may be of help to the Committee?