Leading Defence news today is further coverage on homes for Army families, and reporting that five military personnel have been recognised for making a difference for LGBT in the workplace.
Army housing
An article in The Sun reports that the chief executives of Carillion and Amey had their "heads banged together" by the Defence Secretary yesterday, and told that "all options were on the table" if their poor service maintaining Armed Forces homes did not rapidly improve. The report claims that under a drastic "improvement plan" Carillion Amey has pledged to hire more staff and shorten their response time.
An MOD spokesperson said:
We can confirm that a meeting took place at Main Building on Wednesday, 24 February.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon previously said:
I am deeply concerned by these reports and want them looked into as a matter of urgency. It is simply unacceptable that our brave service personnel and their families , who offer this country so much, have to put up with such poor service. That’s why I’m going to call in the Chief Executives of Carillion and Amey to identify what can be done to improve this situation as soon as possible.
TOP 50 LGBT EXECUTIVES IN BUSINESS
Five military personnel have been named in the Out at Work & Telegraph Top 50 UK executives who are making a difference for LGBT in their workplaces. All five defence personnel across the Armed Forces – two in the Navy and RAF, one in the Army - are in the top 30 list, with two making the top 10 employees who are influencing lasting social change.
Amid thousands of entries, the personnel commended for their active role in making a difference for LGBT people in business are:
- Capt Hannah Winterbourne, Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers (8)
- Lt Cdr Samantha Truelove MBE, Royal Navy (10)
- Wg Cdr Mark Abrahams, Capability Strategy at the Ministry of Defence (11)
- Lt Cdr Chris Wood, Senior Pilot in the Royal Navy (16)
- Sqn Ldr Sherry Conway, Critical Care Nursing Officer in the Royal Air Force (28)
Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt said:
I am pleased to congratulate everyone who has been recognised. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of our LGBT role models which have helped make the Armed Forces become more inclusive. The progress made by the military over a relatively short amount of time is truly impressive and I am proud that the Army and Navy are now among the top workplaces for LGBT employees.
Iraq
The Independent carries a story on its front page looking at new reports of barbarity emerging from Daesh controlled Mosul, in Iraq. The article says the people in Mosul call it "The Biter" or "Clipper"- a metal instrument newly introduced by Daesh officials to punish women whose clothes they claim do not completely conceal their body. The article adds it is as if Daesh fighters and officials are compensating for setbacks in the war by showing that they still have power over the population under their control.
Libya
An article in The Times reports that at a plan to split lawless Libya into three mini-states is winning converts in Italy, days before Libyan MPs hold a last-ditch session to bring warring factions together in a national government. The piece says speculation was rife in Rome yesterday that, if a unity government failed, Western capitals would push to partition Libya into three states: Tripolitania in the northwest, Fezzan in the southwest and Cyrenaica in the east.
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