 The next item of business is statement by Graeme Dey on update on veteran strategy. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Graeme Dey for 10 minutes, please minister. Last November, I informed the Parliament of the launch of the strategy for our veterans. The strategy seeks to ensure that the whole of the UK is meeting its current and future commitments between veterans to 2028 and beyond. The Scottish Government engaged closely with the other Governments of these islands during the drafting of the strategy, enabling it to be owned jointly by the respective Administrations, an approach of course putting veterans' needs before any political difference and one in keeping with that taken here in this Parliament. The launch raised the profile of veterans issues and provided an opportunity for the Scottish Government to highlight the priority that we place on promoting veterans and their families as assets to our society and to providing effective support to those veterans who require it. One of my priorities since becoming veterans minister last year has been to seek to reinforce the positive narrative about veterans and to dispel myths around the scale of their needs. Although a small percentage will require additional and sometimes on-going support when they weave the forces, the vast majority of service leavers transition to civilian life successfully bringing their skills and attributes to bear both in the jobs that they have gone through and enriching society more generally. Members subsequently debated the strategy and support for veterans in December, and I was struck by both the cross-party consensus and the constructive input from colleagues from all sides of the chamber. I am grateful to members across this chamber for continuing that productive approach as we have taken the strategy forward. Today I would therefore like to update Parliament on the work that has been undertaken in Scotland since that launch. In parallel with the UK Government's public consultation on the strategy, which concluded in February, in Scotland we embarked on an extensive programme of face-to-face engagement with veterans stakeholders. Building on work already carried out by the Scottish Veterans Commissioner across some of the strategy's themes. This saw us talk directly to around 60 different veterans groups and organisations, taking in more than 450 people, a process that proved to be extremely valuable in understanding views in Scotland about how veterans community is supported. I was keen to leave no stone unturned during the consultation, and the breadth of our engagements ensure a wide range of opinions being heard, including charities, local authorities, health representatives, employers, universities and the forces families federations. We also met with groups of veterans themselves from Kinloss and Lossymouth in the north, down to Dumfries and Galloway and from Faswayne through to Versaith. I was particularly pleased to be able to participate personally in many of the consultation events, allowing me to learn not just what was being said, but to get a genuine sense of the emotion and strength of feeling that lay behind some of the views being expressed. The range of views that were put to me directly, whether from various veterans champions across the country, charities large and small, groups of veterans when I attended their breakfast cobs or some veterans in custody when I spoke to them when I visited HNP Coenoco, have proved invaluable in helping me to understand what people think, and veterans are rarely backward in coming forward, which has been a good thing. I believe that the consultation has been undertaken on the veteran's strategy, which provides the most comprehensive feedback that's ever been gathered on support for veterans in Scotland, and provides a firm footing on which to plan for the future. The UK Government is in the process of analysing the 4,500 responses that were received in response to the public consultation, including around 400 from Scotland, and they hope to have initial findings ready to share with us in the next few weeks. Allowing for the analysis to be completed, current plans are for the outcomes of the strategy to be announced jointly by the Governments across the UK by the end of this calendar year. Meanwhile, we have been considering the feedback that was gathered during our own consultation, and I wanted to outline today some top headlines that we will be considering further, with relevant stakeholders. We had a very constructive cross-party group last night, and I was reassured to hear that many of the points that were made were chimed with the feedback that we had during the consultation. The consultation indicates a largely positive position in Scotland in terms of how we support our veterans community. Yes, there are areas where the need for improvements has been highlighted, but often this is a tailoring approach rather than a radical rethink. Interestingly, a large amount of the feedback from the consultation was around the transition process through which service leavers are prepared for civilian life. Given the fundamental importance of a successful transition, if service personnel and their families are to adjust and thrive after life in the military, there were common views that the process needed to begin earlier, broaden the aspects of civilian life covered and have more consistent support from the military chain of command. Although the transition process is reserved, the MODR is keen to hear what veterans in Scotland have been telling us. This is something that I will be discussing with the UK Government, including the Defence Secretary, when I attend the ministerial covenant and veterans board in Whitehall next month. The feedback has also indicated a desire to simplify and improve the information and guidance that is available for veterans. There is undoubtedly a lot of excellent support available, but the range of options can be daunting for some, and we are exploring how we can make it easier for people to find the information that they need. Many of the organisations that we spoke to highlighted the need to prioritise better data on veterans in order to inform plans and expected demand. There was a universal welcoming of a question in the 2021 census that will identify those who have previously served. Although the final decision on this remains for the Parliament, I am grateful that colleagues across the chamber have indicated their support for this proposal. Many of the other areas for improvement that have been identified are already being addressed in response to previous reports by our Scottish Veterans Commissioner, whose latest work I will touch on in a moment. I have to say that the positive picture suggested by the consultation reinforces the value of the decision that was made by my predecessor Keith Brown to establish a Veterans Commissioner in Scotland, a role that remains the only such position in the UK. It also reflects well on the more general work that Keith Brown did in that role. Although we should rightly take some comfort in the initial findings of the consultation and indeed I should thank the relevant ministers and officials across the various portfolios for getting us to this position, we now need to address the serious work of making improvements where we can to ensure that support for the Veterans Community remains effective for the next 10 years and beyond. That brings me to the report that was published yesterday by the Veterans Commissioner, Charlie Wallace, who is with us in the gallery today. When the commissioner and I first met last year after we'd both taken up our posts, I was keen to discuss with him how the scrutiny function of his role could be fulfilled. I am pleased to see such an in-depth analysis of where progress has been made since the previous commissioner, Eric Fraser's 63 recommendations, was published across his four reports on transition, housing, employability and skills, health and wellbeing and where we still have more to do. Charlie Wallace's report overall paints a positive picture of both the progress made and the attitude of this Government towards supporting our Veterans and their families. I know that it is part of his work leading up to the publication of his report. Charlie had faced-to-face meetings with a number of my ministerial colleagues, and I am pleased that the report emphasises the cross-Government commitment to the Veterans Community. In terms of the recommendations themselves, I do, however, recognise that there are still a few to be implemented. Most of those sit within health, which was the subject of Eric Fraser's most recent report, and therefore it is understandable that those are less fully progressed. Of others, there is progress that we can point to. For example, we have recently established an internal network for the armed forces community within the Scottish Government. One of the aims of this group is to provide increased support for ex-service personnel who work within the Scottish Government and others that are interested in the armed forces community. It will also help to inform our approach to future recruitment, although it is the case that being a Veteran is not a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act. We hope that this move begins to address the recommendation on jobs within the Scottish Government. However, it is clear that we will need to continue to prioritise work to support veterans in the year ahead. Working closely with our stakeholders and partners, both to fully meet the challenges that are identified by the Veterans Commissioner and the consultation, and to take forward the findings from the Veterans strategy. I look forward to doing that. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in the statement, and I will allow up to 20 minutes for that. Members who wish to ask a question, please press the request to speak buttons. I call Maurice Corry. I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement. The strategy for our veterans identified employment, education and skills, as well as making a home in civilian society among its key themes. Those would, at least partly, be addressed by improving employment routes for veterans to go into emergency services and criminal drusters roles. That is also relevant in the creation of the four science parks in Helensburgh, Lossymouth, Rosyth and Edinburgh. What discussions has the Scottish Government had about those roles, and what is the progress of development with the science parks? This is obviously an issue that Maurice Corry has raised previously. The Scottish Government is prepared to explore any viable opportunities to improve post-service employment and the opportunities for military spouses to enter the workplace, where they can retain skills in the local area. Of course, such a proposal for innovation hub locating and proximity to Faslain or any other basis would require active buy-in from stakeholders, including the MOD, along with other local partners. I am aware that the Helensburgh Community Council has been working with local veterans and other community groups to develop a proposal for the creation of a co-working hub for use by the civil and service communities. At Argyll and Buter site, we would be quite happy to engage with it, but we need to see MOD buy-in. I would like to see some commitment there with a view to seeing how well we could progress with it. I think that it is important that, as well as looking to tap into the skillset of serving personnel in those locations, we also look at the skills available from the spouses. I think that that is something that we are currently missing at the moment. As for the emergency services, I agree that that is certainly an opportunity. Mark Griffin. I am grateful to the minister for the Helensburgh Community Council site for the statement. I am pleased to hear of the continued joint working to support veterans across the United Kingdom. A week after the D-Day commemorations, I want to put on record our thanks to the armed forces personnel past, present and future for serving and protecting Scotland in the UK. Can the minister say how the Government is balancing? That need to retain personnel in our armed forces, maintain personnel numbers while creating a realistic and meaningful pathways into civilian employment for veterans and, specifically, how many veterans have been supported from referral to sustained employment by the Work First and Fair Start employability services? Graham Dey. Can I first associate myself with the comments of Mark Griffin at the outset of his question? He also poses quite an important question, Presiding Officer. I do not believe that addressing the retention issues that are faced by the army in particular and improving the transition experience and pathways through rewarding employment somehow run contrary to one another. Indeed, I would argue that the latter can help to address the former. It can be the case, for example, that serving personnel are leaving the military early because they might be dissatisfied and think that the grass is greener on the civilian side. But some then discover that finding enjoyable, well-paying work is not as simple as they thought. If we, in partnership with the MOD, CTP and employers in the public and private sector, can improve the routes into employment that are financially rewarding and satisfying, we will be able to better point to how the skills accru during service do transfer into civilian opportunities and hopefully demonstrate the worth of remaining in the services for longer than is sometimes currently the case. I should add that I am finding a willingness in the part of the army in Scotland to work with us on this. I think that it is a positive direction of travel there with regard to the specific numbers that Mark Griffin has asked for. I will have those to my colleagues, but I will write to them. I move to the open questions. Again, brevity would be appreciated in questions and answers. Mike Rumbles, followed by Keith Brown. I know that the minister has visited some of our health boards in his role as veterans minister. Could I ask the minister how he will ensure that there is an equitable level of service for our veterans of all ages throughout all our health board areas? He knows that I am particularly keen to ensure that those in the Grampian NHS board area are up to the level experienced elsewhere. Graham Dey? I completely agree with Mike Rumbles on the point that he makes about equity of access to service. I think that all our veterans across Scotland, regardless of where they live, should have equitable access to the services that they require. That is a view that is very much shared by the health secretary and the driver for my having been undertaking a series of visits across the country. Since Mr Rumbles last raised this matter, I have met those providing and accessing veterans' first point delivered services in Gaelish Hills and Irvine. I also visited in Burness to hear from NHS Highland and local veterans about how services are provided across the Highlands with the challenges that that presents where they do not have V1P any more. My officials have been seeking to arrange a meeting with NHS Grampian. There is one pending on the very same subject. I hope to have that take place during the summer recess, while I will also be meeting veterans' groups in Aberdeen. I hope that that reassures the member that I have taken extremely seriously his concerns around equity and ease of access, and I am more than happy to engage further with him on that. Keith Brown, followed by Edward Mountain. Does the minister agree that the abject and repeated failure of the UK Government to even get close to targets for recruitment over a lengthy period now has a direct impact on veterans, including by limiting the opportunities that service personnel have for training and taking on new roles, as well as the opportunity to choose when to leave the service at the time of their choosing? Graham Dey. Indeed, I do understand and agree with the concerns that are being expressed by Mr Brown. We were told that there would be an increase in numbers to 12,500 by 2020, and we are nowhere near seeing that at the moment. All that I can say to Mr Brown is that that will be a matter that I will be raising when I am in London at the beginning of next month. Edward Mountain, followed by Angela Constance. Thank you, Presiding Officer. On 4 December last year, I raised the appalling shame, I believe, of the historic allegations inquiry. The minister agreed to take this matter to the UK Government. I would like to ask if he has done that, when he did it and what was his response. I realise that this has not devolved. Graham Dey. Presiding Officer, we tread where we are in this issue because there have been charges brought, so it is inappropriate to comment on any current criminal investigation. However, there has been a degree of dialogue with the UK Government. That has centred on their plans to hold a consultation relating to legal protections for armed forces, personnel and veterans. Officials are in touch with the Ministry of Defence on the issue. We await the detail of the UK Government's proposals, and we will consider those fully as part of the consultation process that accompanies that. Angela Constance, followed by Jackie Baillie. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I know that the minister is aware of the fabulous work done by the Scottish War Blinded Centre at Lindburnt in my constituency. I really hope that he can come and visit us sometime soon. Meantime, can the minister say what more can be done to signpost veterans with sight loss via the Certificate of Vision Impairment process to services, including the fabulous service offered by the Scottish War Blinded? Graham Dey. Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government with its partners introduced the Certificate of Visual Impairment, the CVI Scotland form in April 2018. We have had very constructive discussions with the Scottish War Blinded, and we are now updating to the accompanying CVI guidance to expand the signposting for veterans to necessary services, including the Scottish War Blinded. I had the pleasure of visiting the Scottish War Blinded Centre in Hawkehead in May, and I was left very impressed by the facilities. I also had the pleasure of speaking at their annual conference. Of course, I would be delighted to visit the Lindburnt Centre. Jackie Baillie, followed by Stuart McMillan. I welcome the specialist mental health provision with funding provided to combat stress in veterans who were first referred to in the report from the Veterans Commissioner. I am sure that the minister will agree that we need to also see an improvement in local mainstream adult mental health services where waiting lists are currently far too long. 20 per cent of adults are waiting longer than the 18-week treatment time guarantee. Does the minister believe that this is good enough, and if not, what changes will he make for veterans? Graham Dey. Presiding Officer, in the context of veterans mental health services, I think that it has been made extremely clear by the Government that the mental health strategy does cover specifically veterans' issues. As Jackie Baillie has touched upon, we do already provide funding for combat stress and the needs of veterans within all mental health services. I should add that there are issues sometimes around their children. An issue was brought to me as recently as yesterday where youngster in service families will go on a calm waiting list, but the family will move, as is so often the case, and they have to go on a calm waiting list somewhere else. That is an issue that I have undertaken with the service families federation to look at in conjunction with the Minister for Mental Health. I hope that that provides a reassurance that this is an issue and a holistic sense that we are very much cited on. Stuart McMillan, followed by Alison Johnstone. Can the minister inform me how has the Scottish Government ensured that veterans in receipt of social care in Scotland get the full value of their war pensions? I can confirm that the Scottish Government continues to provide £5 million of funding each year to local authorities to ensure that all veterans receiving social care at home or in a residential home will keep the full value of their war pensions and armed forces compensation scheme payments, as they will now be exempt from financial assessment. I think that there is an estimated benefit of this for, I think, 1,300 veterans in Scotland who now receive the full value of their war pensions, and I know that that is very welcomed by those affected. Alison Johnstone, followed by Annabelle Ewing. The veterans gateway report that finance is constantly in the top three areas of need upon leaving military life, and the strategy points out that upon doing so, veterans can be uniquely unprepared for balancing the financial demands of civilian life. The minister speaks of his desire to improve information and guidance available to veterans, transitioning into civilian life, but what work is taking place to ensure that veterans have the guidance that they need, appropriate advice and referral to financial advice, including education, where that is needed and appropriate? Graham Dey. Alison Johnstone is correct to highlight this area because it is one that has been identified. I will answer her question in two ways in terms of access to education where that is required. She means in a broader sense, and there is certainly a piece of work going on there just now. In a financial sense, I would maybe draw her attention to a pilot project that has been carried out quite recently, an army base in Scotland, with Barclays Bank, who does wonderful work for our veterans in a variety of way. What they were doing was seeking to provide some financial training for a number of intended service leavers and others, and what emerged from that pilot was confirmation of the need for that. We would be happy to work with Barclays Bank to see if we can roll that out, because very often we recruit particularly into the army young men and women from poorer backgrounds whose education at the point at which they have moved into the military has not been as extensive as we might all want. That includes issues around control of money and the ability to run a household budget. I think that there are a number of things we can do there. Again, I commend the army in Scotland for their willingness to engage in that sort of thing. Annabelle Ewing, followed by Tom Mason. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask the Minister how the Scottish Government will build on the Welcome to Scotland guide to ensure that service personnel and their families living or moving to Scotland can benefit from all that is on offer? In that regard, does the minister share my disappointment that the decline in the defence footprint in Scotland continues apace in breach of UK Government promises? Graham Day. As I said to Keith Brown, I share that disappointment. With regard to the building upon the Welcome to Scotland guide, that guide is a very good, positive publication that highlights exactly what is on offer in Scotland. Information is only as good as the ability to access it. We have identified, through the feedback and some of the discussions that we have had beyond that, an issue particularly around accessing the guide and that information for individuals and families who have actually been living out with Scotland or based out with Scotland just now. Those might be individuals who are intending to return home or to choose to live here. There is a lot of work going on with the MOD and with the army in particular just now to see how we better get that guide and the information within it available to service families who are intending to settle here. Tom Mason, followed by Bruce Crawford. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the minister for his statements. The strategy for our veterans identifies 2028 as the target date for achievement of its key themes. That will require work across Government and organisations, but is the Scottish Government confident in its ability to meet those targets in time? Additionally, the minister referred to recruitment of veterans within the Scottish Government itself. However, Charlie Fraser's findings yesterday highlighted as an area where more work is needed. Is the minister able to set out how the Scottish Government plans to change that and lead by example? Graham Dey? 2028 is not a target as far as this Government is concerned. There are many things we could do relatively quickly about immediate improvement. That is what we aim to do. I have absolutely no doubt either about the willingness or the ability of this Government to deliver on those things. I should also say that those things are delivered in partnership. They are delivered in partnership with local authorities. They are delivered in partnership with the veterans charitable sector in Scotland. That is one of the strengths of this country. They will have to be delivered in partnership with the MOD. I look forward to taking that forward. Do you envisage being able to bring about meaningful change a lot sooner than 2028? Bruce Crawford followed by Alex Rowley. In regard to ensuring the successful transition from a life in the military to Civvie Street, in particular in regard to the significant task of translating 1,000 separate military qualifications into recognised civilian qualifications, can the minister update the chamber on the progress that has been made by the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework to ensure that qualifications obtained during a military career are recognised by civilian organisations? Graham Dey? Bruce Crawford raises a matter that has been raised with me directly by serving personnel. In response to one of the commissioner's recommendations, work is currently under way with the Credit Qualifications Framework Partnership, funded by the funding council, to look at translating military qualifications into qualifications that can be quantified by civilian organisations. It is an important piece of work to assist our serving personnel into employment. Given the scale of the task, there are more than 1,250 separate qualifications to be considered. Initial work has focused on infantry qualifications and a guide to infantry qualifications on what they mean in Scotland was launched in May. The SCQF will continue that work to consider other military qualifications, and I look forward to seeing significant progress in that regard. Alex Rowley, followed by Tom Arthur. Presiding Officer, the minister talked about the important say partnership. I know that, within most local authorities, they have a dedicated lead officer, as well as a dedicated lead politician in terms of veterans and support for the armed forces. Can he tell me what can the co-ordination actually take place? I know that in Fife, the previous person, the politician that was dedicated and committed to that role, is there a co-ordination between Government and in Government? Graham Dey? I would cite Fife as a very good example of a local authority champion. Councilor Rod Cavanaugh does a very good job in that role, but I have to say that that is replicated across various parts of Scotland, across the political parties. To answer Alex Rowley's point specifically, we have not perhaps been as good as we ought to have been at pulling all that together towards sharing best practice. I can tell him that we are drawing up plans to have an event in the summer to which we will be inviting all the local authority champions. We will have the services there, we will certainly be inviting them, to have a round-table discussion about what it is that service personnel and veterans require, and to share best practice across local authorities so that we get a better equity of delivery of support. The last question is from Tom Arthur. Can the minister outline what support is available to veterans to access safe and secure housing? Graham Dey? Housing and homelessness, to a lesser extent, are very important issues in the context of veterans support. We are doing some quite good work on identifying specific housing allocations in various parts of the country. In a broader sense, since 2012, more than £4.5 million of funding from the Scottish Government's affordable housing supply programme has been awarded to organisations to provide new homes and adapt existing ones for veterans in Scotland. During 2018, we revised and published a Scottish housing guide for people weaving the armed forces and ex-service personnel. In February this year, we issued revised practice guidance on social housing allocations. That includes a section on allocations for people leaving the armed forces. Again, I would accept that there is more that could be done in this area. That concludes questions on the ministerial statement, update and veteran strategy. We will move on to the next item of business.