In the build up to the Battle of Passchendaele commemorations, MOD’s Defence Business Services (DBS) will, for the first time, be displaying a complete set of World War 1 service records relating to a Passchendaele veteran. The display forms the centrepiece of the MOD DBS Records exhibition at this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live event at the NEC Birmingham from 6 to 8 April 2017.

World War 1 service records, Crown Copyright

World War 1 service records, Crown Copyright

The MOD archives, managed by DBS, holds the records for service personnel discharged after 1921 and around 500,000 of these individuals will have seen service in World War 1. As part of the centenary anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele, DBS will be looking into one soldier’s story, Company Sergeant Major John Brandie.

World War 1 service records, Crown Copyright

The son of a farm worker, John Brandie was born in Aberdeen on 1 July 1890. He enlisted into the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders in 1908, having previously worked as a Town Carter. Having survived the Battle of Passchendaele and the First World War, he became a Postal Worker and subsequently a Commercial Clerk. John Brandie died in Aberdeen on 22 Dec 1954.

World War 1 service records, Crown Copyright

John Brandie’s service record will be on display on the MOD DBS stand at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event with experts on hand from DBS to interpret the information they contain. This faciniating documentation will provide a real insight into what life was like during that time.

World War 1 service records, Crown Copyright

The Who Do You Think You Are? Live event takes place between the 6 and 8 April at the NEC, Birmingham. For more see www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com.

Countries, territories and organisations invited by Department for International Trade Defence and Security Organisation (DIT DSO) to attend Security and Policing 2017.

The government is launching the Personal Support Package, which includes £330 million of additional employment support over 4 years for people who due to an illness or disability are unable to work at the moment, but may be able to in the future.

This will also include:

• 300 new Disability Employment Advisers in jobcentres across the country
• a one-to-one health and work conversation with a Jobcentre Plus Work Coach to help raise confidence in managing a health condition, when appropriate
• the introduction, from the summer, of a new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Claimant Commitment for disabled people or those with a health condition who are out of work, setting out the support the Jobcentre will provide and what is expected of claimants
• personalised support provided to new ESA claimants placed in the work- related activity group, and new claimants of Universal Credit’s equivalent group, to help them move closer to the jobs market and, when they are ready, into work

Other welfare reforms also come into effect in April to further help those who can work get back into work, while ensuring support is in place for those who need it. These include the more generous Universal Credit taper, starting on 10 April, which will mean claimants keep more of their earnings as they build up their work hours.

The other changes were all announced in the summer 2015 Budget and have been legislated.

From 1 April

Delivering on the government’s commitment to remove automatic entitlement to housing support for 18 to 21-year-olds for new claims to full service Universal Credit. This means that young people will no longer be able to choose to leave home and claim housing support straight away, and young people on benefits will have to face the same housing decisions as young people in work. Those who are in work, or have been in work for the previous six months, and vulnerable people including young care leavers, those with dependent children and those in temporary accommodation, are exempt.

From 3 April

New claimants to ESA who are placed in the work-related activity group and new claimants to Universal Credit placed in the limited capability for work group will get the same rate as the job-seeking equivalent in both benefits to reduce barriers against starting to prepare for work and focus support on those who need it the most.

In order to ensure parents have the best chance of returning to work after having children, those in receipt of Universal Credit will be expected to prepare for employment when their youngest child turns 2 and to look for work when their youngest child turns 3. Under Universal Credit, parents in work can claim up to 85% of their childcare costs back.

From 6 April

Child Tax Credits and the child element of Universal Credit will be limited to 2 children, so benefit recipients face the same family planning decisions as those who support themselves solely through work.

The higher rate of child element for the first child in Universal Credit and the family element in tax credits will also be removed for claims where the eldest child is born on or after this date.

Also coming into effect on April 6 is the Bereavement Support Payment, which widens help so that more bereaved people get the support they need. It will replace Bereavement Allowance, Widowed Parent’s Allowance and the Bereavement Payment for those who lose a spouse or civil partner on or after this date.

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The consultation follows NHS England’s announcement this week of new guidance on the prescription of low value items such as travel vaccines, painkillers, and gluten-free (GF) foods.

It will consider ending the prescription of all gluten-free foods in primary care, with estimates suggesting this could save £25.7 million a year for the health service. An additional £10 million could be saved through patients no longer needing to attend GP appointments in order to get their gluten-free prescriptions.

Currently, staple gluten-free foods such as bread, flour and pasta are available on prescription to patients diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. Gluten-free foods have been given on prescription to these patients since the late 1960s when it was less easy to buy them. But gluten-free foods are now sold in many supermarkets and a wider range of naturally GF food types is also available.

Evidence from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) has also shown that the NHS pays much more than the consumer for the same gluten-free products.

Health minister, Lord O’Shaughnessy said:

The NHS is one of the most efficient health services in the world, but we need to do more to ensure we get the best possible value for taxpayers’ money. Changing the way we prescribe gluten-free food could make an important contribution to saving the NHS millions of pounds a year.

Many clinical commissioning groups have already stopped providing gluten free foods on prescription. Norwich and North Norfolk CCGs decided to end prescribing of GF foods, except in exceptional circumstances. Spend on gluten-free prescribing fell from £400,000 in 2015 to 2016, to just £21,000, making more money available for other treatments.

Norfolk CCG reported no negative feedback on the decision, with their patients saying they didn’t have any problems accessing gluten-free foods since the ending of prescriptions. The decision in Norfolk was also well received by GPs, and by members of the public, who were often surprised to hear that gluten-free food had ever been available on NHS prescription.

Differing approaches to prescribing GF foods has created variation across CCGs. The consultation looks at a new, national approach, creating consistency in gluten-free prescribing across the country.