In a wide-ranging speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on Thursday 17 December 2009, Mr Ainsworth reaffirmed the Government's commitment to operations in Afghanistan and the progress being made in the mission.
The Defence Secretary then turned to the Military Covenant and the support offered to those serving on operations and the wider Armed Forces community. He went on to suggest a number of avenues by which the principles of the Military Covenant could be enshrined in law.
The proposal flows from the 2008 Service Personnel Command Paper. This established a programme of work to ensure that members of the Armed Forces, their families and veterans do not suffer any disadvantage from the unique demands of Service life.
Mr Ainsworth said:
"This summer we launched a public consultation on how to achieve the next steps in this process.
"One proposal is for an Armed Forces Community Charter, setting out individual and specific rights of the Armed Forces community and the duty placed on public bodies to fulfil them.
"There are a number of ways we could take this forward. One would be to make the charter legally binding on public bodies. This would have the effect of enshrining the principles of the 'military covenant' in law.
"Another possibility is a more general legal duty to treat the Armed Forces properly. The Government has demonstrated its readiness to use legislation to address specific issues of disadvantage when necessary. But we don't legislate for legislation's sake.
"Our consultation has demonstrated there are arguments in favour of all the options we tabled, and others too. We are now assessing the practicalities of the various ideas.
"I hope to be able to publish the findings early in the New Year."
See Related Links >>> for the full text of the Defence Secretary's speech.