Oral QuestionWales Office

If he will hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on support for (a) businesses and (b) people affected by the outbreak of the covid-19 omicron variant in Wales.

Tabled: 16 December 2021Answered: 5 January 2022

Asked by

Ben Lake

Plaid CymruCeredigion Preseli

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Wales

Answer from Hansard

The Minister for Veterans and People (Al Carns)

First, I would like to recognise Mr Roy Briggs, a world war two veteran who recently passed. Those of us on both sides of the House salute our greatest generation. As the Secretary of State said, we recently announced Op Valour, the veterans’ support system, which is underpinned by £50 million over three years, and I launched the north-west England pilot last week. This is an institutionally resilient system—it is not a sticking plaster—that will reform the system at the local, the regional and the national level. When we combine that with the covenant broadening from three Government Departments to 14 just on Saturday, that is a significant increase to both veterans’ and armed forces community support.