Memorandum from Forces-helpline.com
My colleague and I are both ex members of HMF
(ARMY) having last served in Kosovo in 2000, and have between
us a number of years service including TAVR enlistment. In May
2004 we set up a website-based helpline service www.forces-helpline.com
to offer serving and ex serving members of HMF, their families
and dependants, a means of gaining advice and help on various
issues from bullying, to domestic violence, religious persecution,
harassment, sexual orientation etc.
May I add the website is totally self funded.
We are not professional councillors and have never claimed such,
although Mr Thorn has taken basic counselling courses to give
us a better understanding of the type of enquiry that comes our
way each day. We do think we are qualified in the fields of "having
worn the boots, got the t-shirt, and seen the video fields".
I hope you don't think us flippant, but the service we provide
has come across all sorts of attempts to silence us. We are not
anti-forces as may have been suggested but very pro-forces and
always will be. To date we have had over five million hits to
our website in less than 24 months and work closely with Daniel's
Trust and the Deepcut & Beyond families in offering help and
support to parents and concerned family members who believe that,
by not being members of the forces themselves, they have no one
else to turn to for advice.
It has come to our attention that the Defence
Select Committee may allow us to give evidence (upon invitation)
in its consideration of the Armed Forces Bill, and to act on behalf
of the people who use or have used our services. This would provide
an opportunity to ask the committee to enquire into the implementation
of a fully independent body to look into concerns /complaints
and redress of our users whom we believe, through our contact
with them, are afraid of the backlash and non-confidentiality
when dealing with such agencies as employed by the MoD. Unfortunately
due to confidentiality we would not be able to disclose specific
cases or details of any of our users.
Recently we attended a presentation day at ITC
Catterick by invitation of Brigadier Montrose to see the efforts
his staff are making in the fields of welfare and to meet with
recruits to discuss any concerns they may have. The day was very
beneficial to both parties and was proof that both parties' main
concern was that of the soldiers in the care of the Army.
May I finish and thank you for your time by
requesting, as a tax paying civilian, proof of Mrs Burgess's claim
of having dealt with 77 cases of regress when, for a service that
we have been told by herself and MoD sources is not required,
has, along with Daniel's Trust, dealt with over 300 cases in a
year!
I hope you find this information useful in your
difficult task ahead and hope that you and the other members of
the Defence Select Committee will, as public servants, do your
uppermost to give these people whom entrust the lives of their
sons and daughters, the help and confidence to be safe in the
knowledge that there is a body of people out there, and not an
MoD agency, that can provide the help they so deserve and need!
Thank you again for your time and consideration.
February 2006
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