Whenurhappy,
I wouldn't be too despondent just yet. A very welcome move in the right direction, but there were rather a lot of 'mays', 'coulds' and 'will seek agreement' in the press release. At the moment it sounds aspirational, and whilst I have no reason to doubt Mr Fallon's intent in this case, the small matter of cost might be an issue. I'm hoping that the cost has already been factored in and the announcement was made knowing that cost isn't going to be an issue, even in these tough times.
Medallic recognition is one of the few areas left to us that visibly recognises loyalty and achievement, service and sacrifice and contributes directly to ethos and esprit de corps. I really do hope they manage to get this through the various staffing and budgetary chains in a timely manner.