Thank you, Presiding Officer.
In August last year, I appointed Eric Fraser as the first Scottish veterans commissioner—indeed, it was the first such post in the United Kingdom. With some reservations, which have subsequently receded, members across the chamber welcomed his appointment and adopted a non-partisan position on it that was in keeping with the real, genuine and tangible cross-party accord to provide the highest possible support and opportunities for our armed forces and our veterans and their families who choose to make Scotland their home.
Members recognised that the way in which public services and support for veterans were provided in Scotland was good but was developing and improving. However, I acknowledged, as others did, that more could, should and would be done to ensure that the services and support were as coherent and as good as they could be. We agreed that a commissioner could bring a holistic perspective to our and our partner organisations’ policy development, challenging perceptions and bringing experience and independent views to bear on issues of importance to veterans, and holding those responsible to account in order to drive further improvements.
At the same time, the commissioner has a major part to play in promoting and highlighting the undoubted talents and skills of our strong and robust veterans community. That cohort of veterans is often an untapped resource that can and should offer so much to our communities, to employers and to Scottish society as a whole. When the commissioner, Eric Fraser, began his work he spent a considerable length of time engaging with a wide range of interests: policy teams in local government and the Scottish Government; providers of services that are accessed by veterans; veterans organisations; and, vitally, employers of veterans.
Crucially and rightly, in my opinion, Eric Fraser invested a lot of time in speaking to individual veterans and hearing about their real-life experiences and their opinions. Who better to articulate how veterans are treated on leaving the military and returning to civilian life? Who better to spell out the difficulties that they have faced in finding a home, establishing a business, getting a job, developing skills and ensuring that their families are settled? Who better, as well, to tell us what actually works in the real world, what needs to be improved and what needs to change?
As a result of those discussions and of a full and thorough examination of what is already in place, the commissioner published his first report, “Transition in Scotland”, on 27 March 2015. He provided a copy of the report to Alex Fergusson as convener of the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on armed forces veterans, and members can find a copy of the report in the Scottish Parliament information centre. I congratulate the commissioner on the tremendous progress that he has made to date and I welcome his recommendations and findings, because they can help us further improve the support that we provide to veterans.
I was delighted that, to help the commissioner promote and publicise the report, Alex Fergusson very kindly hosted a reception here in Parliament on 1 April. Alex Fergusson, Eric Fraser and I—and, indeed, many of the MSPs who are here today—had the opportunity to meet key stakeholders, veterans and employers with a wide variety of experiences to share. I hope that, like me, all those who attended found the evening informative, inspiring and incredibly worth while. I can think of two particular suggestions that were mentioned to me and which we have taken up since then.
The reception focused on two main areas: employment and housing. I was delighted that Eric Fraser and Alex Fergusson spoke so warmly about the steps that the Scottish Government has taken to date in those areas and felt able to echo my very strong belief that veterans and their families are a considerable and sometimes underutilised asset to the country.
The vast majority of veterans make a seamless transition from the military into employment, into business and into civilian life. They have a considerable, formidable and enviable skill set, of which they are sometimes not as aware as they might be. They are leaders, they work well under pressure, they are adaptable and they are strategic problem solvers. They bring a range of real, tangible skills as drivers, doctors, nurses, clerks, information technology and communications experts, engineers and tradespeople—exactly what we are looking for in modern Scotland. The skills that they have developed have been forged and tested in some of the most demanding situations imaginable and have not been found wanting.
During the reception, I met veterans who had established businesses and built successful careers in the public and private sectors and who gave their time freely in support of the third sector and their communities. They are, as we all are, fathers, mothers, friends and neighbours; they are an integral part of civic society. They live in our cities, our towns, our Scotland.
I met small and large employers with specific recruitment policies in place to maximise the use of the undoubted skills of veterans. I also met veterans who had found the whole experience of leaving the military daunting and difficult. It is vital that for the small number who require it, appropriate, effective and comprehensive support is readily available.
In my opinion, the commissioner’s report captures all those views, experiences and opportunities. He has made recommendations on where we can work with a range of partners, such as local authorities and the Ministry of Defence, in order to further improve the support that is available to those leaving the armed forces who choose to make Scotland their home.
As I said a few moments ago, in broad terms I welcome all those recommendations and officials in the Scottish Government are looking in detail at what we can do to take them forward. In the meantime, I make the following specific observations about some of the main areas on which Eric Fraser focused. The first relates to housing. I agree entirely with the commissioner that service leavers who wish to settle in Scotland should be made aware of how housing legislation and systems work here. I should say, as I have said for a number of years, that I believe that the Ministry of Defence and the UK Government should ensure that, when somebody joins the armed forces, a plan should be started on day 1 for their employment, housing and health provision when they leave the service. We will continue to work closely with the UK Government to ensure that advice and briefings on housing and homelessness accurately reflect the position here in Scotland, so that service leavers who choose to settle here are aware of the differences in policy and approach and of where to go for assistance.
We have produced a tailored housing options leaflet entitled, “A Scottish housing guide for people leaving the armed forces and ex-service personnel”, which provides information on housing options and where to go for further advice and support. The guide was widely distributed to the Ministry of Defence, including military bases in the UK and abroad, as well as to advice and support agencies and social housing providers.
For our part, Scottish Government officials will continue to monitor and update any information available to ensure that it is accurate, informative and relevant. They will play their part in ensuring that the information gets to those who need it most.
Housing is and will remain a priority for this Government. Access to good-quality housing is a vital part of the Government’s drive to secure economic growth, as well as to promote social justice, strengthen communities and tackle inequality. We recognise that some service leavers and ex-service personnel can face particular challenges in finding housing. We are committed to working with the commissioner and others to ensure that they are not disadvantaged by their service or the circumstances in which they find themselves because of that.
We wish to help social landlords understand their requirements and the flexibility that they have in allocating their houses. We published, “Social Housing Allocations: A Practice Guide”, which includes guidance on housing issues for ex-service personnel and encourages social landlords to give fair and sympathetic consideration to applicants leaving the armed forces. The guide provides practical examples of approaches being used by landlords to manage allocations, including in relation to ex-service personnel.
In relation to employment, the “Transition in Scotland” report identifies a range of ways in which we and others—it also refers to the UK Government and the MOD—can help those who are leaving the armed forces to find a job, which is clearly one of the most crucial aspects of making a successful transition. My officials will explore further how best we might promote modern apprenticeships, placements and employer recruitment of service leavers and, crucially, refine, develop and improve the mechanisms for getting the right information and advice to the service leaver. Think for a moment about the advice available and the number of organisations that stand ready to help veterans. There are at least 400 charities, and provision on that scale can blind the person coming out to finding the right place for the best possible support.
I agree that the wealth of youth employment initiatives and opportunities that the Government supports and delivers through partners such as Skills Development Scotland should be clearly signposted to early service leavers and veterans. It is important that that group is aware of the range of offers and opportunities for them to make a successful transition to civilian life.
It is not clear that the support available via third sector organisations and charities is sufficiently well publicised, co-ordinated and aligned with the mainstream offers that are already available in Scotland via Skills Development Scotland and colleges, particularly for veterans under 25 years of age.
I agree that there are opportunities to better align, publicise and link to the network of veteran support services offered across Scotland, through my world of work and other partners’ websites. My officials have discussed that with SDS, which has advised that it would be happy to work with partner organisations to fulfil that recommendation.
One thing that has struck me as very important over the years for which I have been responsible for veterans in the Government is that, very often, the transition to civilian life can be the most daunting thing that veterans have experienced, even including those very dangerous experiences that they may have had while in the armed forces. The prospect of having to be responsible for, first of all, getting a job, then sometimes getting a house, budgeting in that house and holding down a tenancy can be quite daunting for people who very often have had their accommodation, their food, their wage and their travel options provided—or at least organised—for them. That in itself can be a very worrying experience.
For those reasons, I think that the commissioner’s recommendations are both timely and welcome. He identifies, quite rightly, the importance of getting the preparatory work done correctly before, and in the run-up to, leaving the armed forces. We do not have responsibility for that and, if I am honest, it has not always been easy to influence the MOD on that. It is not just me saying that; similar comments are being made in Wales and elsewhere. However, Eric Fraser has a lot of experience—I think that he was twice defence attaché in Washington and he has worked with the MOD. We hope very much that those links will help us to establish a more productive relationship in that regard.
Eric Fraser has identified a number of ways in which the Scottish Government, local authorities and the public, private and third sectors can and should play their part to ensure that the information and support that are provided at that crucial stage fully reflect the distinctive nature of devolved services in Scotland. I want to push forward that agenda. I will look to all strategic partners to play their full part and I have no doubt that they will. We may not get it completely right immediately and I do not pretend that we have it right just now. That is one of the reasons why I appointed the commissioner. It will take time and substantial effort will be required.
I congratulate Eric Fraser on his excellent report. It has struck the right balance between showcasing what is working well, what needs wider adoption and where gaps need to be filled. Crucially, it holds up veterans and their families as assets to business, to society and to Scotland. That key message, which was a central part of the reception that we held, must be recognised, endorsed and promoted. That is a challenge for me; for the Scottish Government; for the public and private sector, including large and small businesses; and for Scotland’s ex-service charities.
The Labour Party amendment is well intentioned. The Scottish Government supports Poppyscotland and Legion Scotland’s insult to injury campaign. Unlike other parties, we have included a specific pledge in our Westminster manifesto. We believe that those who have been injured in the service of our country should get the full value of war disablement pensions and we will work to ensure that that is not treated as income in the assessment of entitlement to other benefits.
However, I believe that the right way to address that situation is for the UK Government to align the war pensions scheme with the armed forces compensation scheme so that there is a fair and consistent approach. If we think for a second or two about somebody—perhaps a veteran in a care home in Scotland—who, for very legitimate reasons, was moved to somewhere in the rest of the UK and found that the entitlement that they had in Scotland did not transfer, that would be a real shock to the system. That is why I think that the situation is best dealt with by a joint approach.