Our forces are the best, and deserve the best. Few people can be more aware than I am that we are now asking a lot of the services and their families. Iraq and Afghanistan place huge demands on our personnel. Many have been wounded; some have lost their lives. Every death or injury saddens me greatly, although this of course can be nothing to the pain and loss suffered by the families.

I sense a growing public appreciation of the sacrifices that our forces and their families make. Last Sunday, I was proud to pay my respects at the Cenotaph as the nation remembered all the gallant men and women who have made sacrifices in the service of their country. Remembrance Sunday is a day to honour not only the dead, but also the survivors, especially the wounded. This year it was noticeable how many young people wore poppies. The nation - and the nation includes this Government - holds our forces in great esteem. All of us want to see that esteem grow and build.

But those who claim the Covenant between the Government and the Armed Forces is in any way broken are wrong. That does not mean that we, the Government, cannot do better. But the truth is that we strive constantly to ensure that the Armed Forces have the best possible package of care.

The facts speak for themselves.

Our operational welfare package has been boosted with a tax-free operational bonus, more phone calls home, better internet access and a year-round free parcel service.

Healthcare provision for the Armed Forces is exceptional, whether it is in-theatre, at Selly Oak, or at Headley Court, where our rehabilitation is widely acknowledged as being world class. The care we provide now has undoubtedly saved many more lives than would have been the case even a few years ago. We have listened to concerns for more of a military environment for the wounded and have put this in place at Selly Oak.

We also take mental healthcare very seriously. A great deal has been done in developing our responses to the stresses of military life. A mental health team deploys to every sizeable operational theatre, and after deployment we try to ensure personnel get a "decompression period" to unwind. If specialist assessment and treatment is needed it can be carried out at any of 15 military Community Mental Health centres in the UK.

Veterans can use the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas' hospital where they will see a clinician with a background in military psychiatry. This scheme will soon be supported even further by military experts working with NHS mental health trusts. Treatment for qualifying war pensioners is organised by Combat Stress, to which we have greatly increased our funding. War pensioners are entitled to priority NHS treatment for any disability which is accepted as having been caused or aggravated by service.

Despite media reports, we are providing by far the best kit our forces have ever had - delivering more than £10 billions' worth in the past three years.
We have initiated a rolling programme that is flexible, responsive and delivers good kit on time to the front line. We have spent over £1 billion on force protection, and more on new helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and weapons. We've just announced that we are buying 140 more Mastiff vehicles for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will do more.

The opinions from the people who really matter - those on the front line - are encouraging. On my recent visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, troops gave positive feedback on a range of equipment we have delivered: Mastiff, Bulldog and Viking vehicles, Osprey body armour, Challenger tanks and base security. As the senior British commander in southern Iraq, Maj Gen Jonathan Shaw, said in June: "I have never seen a theatre so well supplied with new kit… this steady trickle of new kit has had real and almost instantaneous impact."

So we are making good progress. But there is a lot more to be done. I would certainly acknowledge that some service accommodation is not up to standard. We are working hard to put this right, but it cannot be done instantly. This year, we will spend £870 million (up from £700 million last year), and we plan to spend over £5 billion over the next decade. This is a big project that will take time. We are dealing with a legacy of under-investment that goes back decades. We are also helping people to buy their own homes and look to do more in this area.

We keep these levels of support under constant review. The Ministry of Defence is working closely with other departments to make sure that Government as a whole delivers for our Armed Forces. The new Cross-Government Strategy on Service Personnel will let us examine our progress, take a fresh look at a number of areas and to set out our agenda for support in housing, health, education, skills or welfare. No government has done this before.

This Government is demonstrating how it values our forces and their families by ensuring it delivers the support they deserve.

I hope the public will support the forces just as much. I am confident they will.