Ex-servicemen: Mental Health Mrs. Moon To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2009, Official Report, columns 1277-78W, on ex-servicemen: mental health, what support his Department has provided for the community mental health pilot projects for veterans; and if he will make a statement. Mr. Kevan Jones It has been the policy of successive Governments that the NHS should be the main provider of treatment for veterans. The NHS is therefore taking the lead for the six Community Mental Health pilots; the MOD has provided the start up costs for the six pilot sites and will meet the costs of the evaluation, £0.5 million. Veterans are also designated as a Special Interest Group (SIG) in the Department of Health's £173 million Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Programme. In addition, to assist those veterans not in the catchment areas of one of the pilots, we have expanded our Medical Assessment Programme (MAP) based at St. Thomas' hospital, London, to include assessment of veterans with mental health symptoms with operational service since 1982.