How will the Minister ensure that the veterans community in Wales is represented on the new Citizen Voice Body, in accordance with the new legal due regard duty applying to some public bodies, including the NHS and local authorities, under the Armed Forces Covenant?
Llais (the operating name of the Citizen Voice Body) is operationally independent of government and as such will need to consider for itself how it meaningfully involves people from across all of Wales, including veterans, in its work.
Llais is already working with some veterans on a regional basis.
Key actions are being developed to encourage more veterans to share their experiences about accessing health and social care services. This will enable veterans to gain confidence their voices will be heard and empowered to help influence and shape our health and social care services. It will also transform how we use veterans’ experiences of health and social care to improve services.
We want to actively encourage veterans to volunteer their services for Llais or use their complaints advocacy service if they feel the healthcare or social service, they have received was insufficient or in any way disadvantage them.
We are enormously proud of Wales’ Armed Forces’ long history of service and of Armed Forces personnel, veterans, and their families for the critical contribution they make.