Ministers within the Equalities portfolio regularly engage with their counterparts in other Government Departments on a range of matters.

This is in addition to officials within the Office for Equality and Opportunity working closely with those in the Ministry of Defence to ensure that the differing experiences and needs of women and LGBT+ personnel are reflected across their work, including ex-service personnel and veterans.

For example, women are a crucial part of this Government’s new Veterans’ Strategy with commitments including the establishment of a new women veterans’ forum, and an oral history project. Additionally, last year the Government launched the £50 million VALOUR programme, which will make it easier for all veterans to access the care and support they deserve wherever they live in the UK.

The Government has also been clear that historic treatment of LGBT+ veterans was a moral stain on our nation. The Ministry of Defence has already made substantial progress in delivering the Financial Recognition Scheme for veterans who served under, and were impacted by, the Ban on LGBT personnel in the Armed Forces. Decisions have been made on 78% of cases and over £54.6m paid out. We continue to take a proactive approach to ensure all affected veterans are made aware of the Schemes; working with local councils, the NHS, community groups, Veterans’ Commissioners, charities and an external communications specialist.

Ministers within the Equalities portfolio regularly engage with their counterparts in other Government Departments on a range of matters.

This is in addition to officials within the Office for Equality and Opportunity working closely with those in the Ministry of Defence to ensure that the differing experiences and needs of women and LGBT+ personnel are reflected across their work, including ex-service personnel and veterans.

For example, women are a crucial part of this Government’s new Veterans’ Strategy with commitments including the establishment of a new women veterans’ forum, and an oral history project. Additionally, last year the Government launched the £50 million VALOUR programme, which will make it easier for all veterans to access the care and support they deserve wherever they live in the UK.

The Government has also been clear that historic treatment of LGBT+ veterans was a moral stain on our nation. The Ministry of Defence has already made substantial progress in delivering the Financial Recognition Scheme for veterans who served under, and were impacted by, the Ban on LGBT personnel in the Armed Forces. Decisions have been made on 78% of cases and over £54.6m paid out. We continue to take a proactive approach to ensure all affected veterans are made aware of the Schemes; working with local councils, the NHS, community groups, Veterans’ Commissioners, charities and an external communications specialist.

The requested information is not centrally held, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 23 July to PQ UIN 68079.

Data on (a) sickness rates for this cohort is not centrally held by the Home Office.

As regards (b) retention, at the start of 2024, Home Office was authorised by the Civil Service Commission to recruit on an exceptional basis up to 1000 SWF staff to meet short term needs as required. This cohort was not under general employment by Home Office but could be offered short term employment contracts, which they were free to accept or reject. These contracts specified there was no expectation of extension or offer of a further contract, on expiry of the initial term. Following the Civil Service Commission confirming that authorisation for this form of recruitment would not be extended beyond early 2025, all SWF staff contracts were ended by 31 January 2025.

The budget for Border Force’s Seasonal Workforce was £9.424m for calendar year 2024.

The specific data requested is not available in an accessible format but below are the relevant statistics taken from Border Force’s transparency data.

Of the 832,739 queue samples measured across the UK in 2024, 97.55% of queues were within Border Force’s service standards above the 95% target. These service standards are 25 mins EU/EEA and 45 mins non-EU/EEA.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/682b149302662c6f8ec24411/border-force-transparency-data-q1-2025.ods (tab BF01).

There was no shortfall in Border Force staffing against its budgeted headcount in 2024; as such, there were no additional travel nor other costs incurred specifically for backfilling staff, and no posts nor hours required backfilling.

Border Force operates a flexible resourcing model, regularly assessing operational needs and deploying staff dynamically in response to passenger volumes and security requirements. Maintaining the security and efficiency of the UK border remains a top priority, and we continue to allocate resources accordingly to ensure the smooth flow of passengers and goods.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 23 July to Question 68251.