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00:00 [Multiple voices]
00:18 I'm not sure Johnny Mercer was made for ministerial life in London.
00:24 And when I come down here it just kind of reinvigorates me because it's an amazing community.
00:30 They're working every day in this space. They really care obviously.
00:35 But also you've got people who've been through these pathways and used pathways that I've set up and designed.
00:42 And it kind of really restores your vim and vigour to keep going to make sure these people are looked after.
00:50 Because that's your main goal with your ministerial appointments isn't it, to support veterans in any way they see fit?
00:56 Well I mean it's the whole reason I'm here and got into politics in the first place.
00:59 So look, things have changed particularly over the last 18 months or so in what we've been able to achieve.
01:07 And it's a completely different environment to operate in under this Prime Minister and in this administration
01:13 where it's very permissive, record amounts of government funding.
01:18 And the Prime Minister wants this to be the best country in the world to be a veteran and I'm determined to get there.
01:24 Speaking of funding, what is your reaction to the extra £10 million in the Autumn Stage?
01:29 Yeah it's great. It comes on top of millions of pounds that's been committed in this space already.
01:35 We'll have 60 people working at the Office of Veterans Affairs by the beginning of next year.
01:41 Delivering programmes, work, employment, health, housing, creating this ecosystem, working with the third sector
01:50 and delivering a service to veterans in this country that we can be truly proud of.
01:55 So I'm obviously delighted with it.
01:57 So will the funding go to any area specifically or will it just go to that whole ecosystem?
02:02 So it goes into a People, Places and Pathways programme which is all about making sure people know where to turn
02:08 particularly when they're poorly. So that's been a big job of work over many years.
02:14 It's always been a challenge I think in this sector because there's so many providers to understand where to go
02:19 so you don't have to tell your story a number of times.
02:22 But it'll go towards that programme and that programme's doing great work.
02:27 And it must feel a bit extra that you've seen people downstairs who have perhaps used those pathways
02:32 and then gone on to establish their own businesses and so on.
02:34 Yeah, that's what it's all about. Often the vast majority of people come out of the military and are absolutely fine
02:40 and the ones that need a little bit of extra help, it's only a little bit of extra help and they go on and thrive
02:46 and they become extraordinary businessmen and assets to any company and that's why we do what we do.
02:51 Have you got any updates on the Veterans ID Card scheme?
02:55 Yeah, it's rolling out. I mean we launched the first ones with you, didn't we?
02:58 And the machine will be printing 10,000 a month in January so we're going through the process.
03:05 We're basically upscaling it every time, right?
03:08 Because you can't just pull the lever and print 2.2 million ID cards, right?
03:13 You're going to break the system.
03:14 So, you know, we got the first ones out the door with you a couple of months ago.
03:18 We're doing around 70,000 now.
03:21 I've got there's post-2019ers who, you know, it's all retrospective.
03:27 The retrospective digital verification process, it's working.
03:32 But, you know, I know there's still plenty of people out there who don't have their ID card, right?
03:36 So we are going to keep going down this route until we've achieved our objective.
03:40 So is the process going as intended so far?
03:42 Yeah, it's going well.
03:44 Okay. And are there any specific areas that you're looking to tackle which haven't got as much limelight as there should be in your opinion?
03:54 I mean, you know, I feel like an incredibly lucky government minister in government office
04:03 because every demand signal that I've sent to the Treasury or to Number 10 in this space has been answered in full.
04:10 And secondarily, you know, there was never any genius in what I was trying to do with the Office of Veterans Affairs.
04:17 It was literally about bringing together all the fantastic services that there are already
04:21 and creating a space where they can all coexist with some good sort of coordination and command, if you like,
04:28 to make sure that it's ruthlessly focused on what it feels like to be a veteran coming into those services.
04:34 And, you know, that's what we're doing.
04:37 It was always, and this is why I came into politics, because I didn't understand why we didn't do it in the first place.
04:44 And it was never a huge financial commitment, but it makes a real difference to the veterans' community
04:52 and also it speaks volumes to who we are as a country when it comes to looking after our veterans.
04:56 We worked through this problem about this time last year, where you're running into Christmas
05:01 and many governments around the world and charities obviously want to have no homeless veterans.
05:07 That's always been the objective.
05:08 What we sat down last Christmas with the charities, we were like, what do you actually need to deliver that?
05:13 And we worked with the charities to establish a clear, dedicated pathway out of homelessness for veterans.
05:21 For the first time in the UK, £8.5 million.
05:25 We've bought 910 supporting housing placements, built a network all over the country.
05:30 And if you present as homeless as a veteran, you'll be referred into Op Fortitude.
05:35 And no veteran should be sleeping rough because of a lack of provision this Christmas.
05:41 And I'll be working hard to run around the country and make sure that's the case.
05:45 And finally, you've mentioned several times that you want the UK to be the greatest country for a veteran to live in.
05:50 Do you think that goal will be achieved any time soon?
05:53 It depends how long I've got. We're making a lot of progress. Let's see.