(7) ARMED FORCES COVENANT REPORT
1.47 The Bill requires that the Secretary of State
prepare and lay before Parliament an annual report, the "armed
forces covenant report", about the effects of membership
(or former membership) of the armed forces on service people in
the fields of healthcare, education and housing, and such other
fields as the Secretary of State may determine.[41]
The armed forces covenant report is intended to respond to the
ways in which service in the armed forces may directly or indirectly
affect the ability of service people and their families to benefit
from provision in relation to health, education and housing in
the UK.[42]
1.48 Rights to health, education and housing are
human rights recognised by the international human rights treaties
to which the UK is a party, such as the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the European Social
Charter. It is well documented that former members of the armed
forces have difficulty availing themselves of these rights.[43]
They are disproportionately represented, for example, amongst
the homeless population.
1.49 Our predecessors, in both the 2001-05 and 2005-10
Parliaments, were consistently of the view that "in a parliamentary
democracy it is the democratic branches of the state (the Government
and Parliament) which should have primary responsibility for economic
and social policy, in which the courts lack expertise and have
limited institutional competence or authority."[44]
Requirements on Ministers to report to Parliament on the progress
made towards securing access for vulnerable groups to social and
economic rights such as housing, health and education are human
rights enhancing measures: they facilitate parliamentary scrutiny
and so increase the Government's political accountability for
implementing the rights which the UK has recognised in its international
treaty obligations. We welcome
the armed forces covenant report as a measure which enhances the
Government's accountability to Parliament for the protection of
the rights of members of the armed forces.
41 Clause 2 of the Bill, inserting new s. 359A into
the Armed Forces Act 2006. Back
42
EN paras 17-19. Back
43
EN para. 17. Back
44
See e.g. Twenty-first Report of Session 2003-04, The International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, HL Paper
183, HC 1188 at para. 64; Twenty-ninth Report of Session 2007-08,
A Bill of Rights for the UK?, HL Paper 165-I, HC 150-I at
para. 167; Twenty-eighth Report of Session 2008-09, Legislative
Scrutiny: Child Poverty Bill, HL Paper 183, HC 1114 at para.
1.26. Back
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