Further Memorandum from the Ministry of
Defence
THE ARMY
INQUIRIES AND
AFTERCARE SUPPORT
CELL
1. This note provides some background information
on the Army Inquiries and Aftercare Support Cell, further to the
oral evidence given to the select committee considering the Armed
Forces Bill on 15 March 2006.
2. Responsibility for casualty and compassionate
administration transferred in April last year from the single
Services to the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre at RAF
Innsworth. At the same time the Army's Director of Personal Services
formed the Army Inquiries and Aftercare Support Cell. The aim
of this change was to maintain and improve the long term provision
of care to bereaved families.
3. Among these lessons, it was recognised
that the Army had to maintain better and more regular contact
with families for as long as this was required, and that a formal
system should be instigated to keep them abreast of all developments
and progress in the investigation and inquiry process. The Support
Cell's contact with families begins a short time after the funeral,
which marks the end of the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre's
direct involvement.
4. The Support Cell has two main areas of
work:
(a) To maintain close and regular contact
with bereaved families for as long as they want, including estranged
family members. This will involve regular letters from the Support
Cell to keep families informed of the Army's investigation, as
well as regular updates on progress from the initial Learning
Account through to completion and ultimate release of the Board
of Inquiry report to the family. In addition, visiting officers
will visit family members and will provide a monthly report to
the Support Cell on the bereaved families for whom they are responsible.
All bereaved families are included, as well as where appropriate
families of soldiers who are categorised as being very seriously
ill. All questions or complaints from them will be dealt with
personally and promptly. Procedures are the same for all deaths,
no matter how they occur.
Inquiries and Investigations
(b) The Army's Director of Personal Services
is also appointed as the single service lead on boards of inquiry
into unnatural death and serious injury. The Support Cell oversees
the board of inquiry process on a day to day basis on his behalf,
and has now become the focus for monitoring progress to ensure
delay is kept to an absolute minimum for all such Army boards
of inquiry. In order to accomplish this more effectively and provide
more transparency and a better audit trail, work is in hand to
implement the recommendations of an Army study into the tracking
of inquiries and lessons learned.
5. Over and above these two main roles,
the Support Cell has the following additional responsibilities:
(a) Identifying situations where closer liaison
with the wider family is needed, most notably when there is a
breakdown in relationships between family members.
(b) Organising personal briefings for families
as required, or requested by them, to explain any military or
civilian procedures, in particular after they have been presented
with a copy of the board of inquiry report.
(c) The Support Cell has developed a formal
training package for relevant staff, and provides assistance at
training courses as required. The new training package has been
developed in conjunction with specialist Army staff, the civilian
police, chaplains, the Army welfare service, and the Veterans'
Agency. The new training package will be distributed throughout
the Army in the next few weeks.
(d) The Support Cell is developing an aide
memoire for unit commanding officers and adjutants to use. This
sets out in a single document the chain of command's responsibilities
when dealing with casualties and bereaved families.
(e) The Association has recently formed,
with public and non-public financial support, as part of the process
of engaging more effectively with bereaved families. The Support
Cell provides support to the Association, and is one of its main
points of contact with the armed forces.
Board of inquiry submission
(f) The Support Cell takes the lead in preparing
the regular submission to Ministers and senior staff recording
all outstanding investigations and inquiries into unnatural deaths
and serious injuries.
6. In its first few months, the Support
Cell systematically reviewed all deaths since the start of Operation
Telic in March 2003 in order to verify the level of contact with
families; check the status of any outstanding inquiries; and re-establish
contact and a visiting officer where this was necessary. Altogether,
this resulted in contact being re-established in 34 instances.
7. The Support Cell provides a much improved
service to bereaved families, and one which is responsive to their
needs. Its establishment means that key issues and questions can
be addressed and discussed before they are allowed to develop
into more significant problems.
April 2006
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