(Samaj Weekly)- Labour’s Shadow Mayor, Liam Byrne MP will be briefing opposition defence spokesman, the Right Honourable John Healey MP on his ten-point plan to support the West Midlands 76,000 former service personnel and their families.
They will be joined by Councillor Mick Brown, whose son serves in the Irish Guards, during a visit to the City’s Hall of Memory in Centenary Square.
“We have made a good start across the West Midlands in supporting the Armed Forces Covenant, but we need to do more, and can do more.
“I would like our region to be a beacon of best practice, in supporting those who have risked their lives in the service of our country.
“That means making sure we’re bringing back industry to the West Midlands, using defence contracts to support high-tech manufacturers here – and helping those firms open jobs to former armed forces personnel with support for specialist training”.
Centrepiece of Byrne’s plan will be to explore how the Defence Medicine Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham can come together with the Commonwealth Games to help create a centre for Invictus sports. The idea could see a centre of excellence for the treatment of injuries, rehabilitation and sport at the new hospital planned for Arden Cross between Birmingham and Coventry.
This would be supported by a joint approach with the NHS and local councils to ensure that veterans have homes, access to specialist mental health services, a review of concessionary travel to support injured veterans, and the promotion of veteran friendly recruitment with employers across the region.
“To make sure this happens I will appoint an advocate for the armed forces community at the West Midlands Combined Authority. That way we’ve got someone with clout tasked with co-ordinating our to support veterans with local councils, businesses, trades unions, housing associations and the veterans’ organisation such as the Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes,” said Liam Byrne.
