 The next item of business is a debate on motion 1074 3 in the name of Graham Day on support for the veterans and armed forces community. I would invite those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press the request-to-speak buttons. I call on Minister Graham Day to speak to and move the motion. Around 12 minutes please minister. Is the ministers card in? Maes i'r ddaeth peidio ac yn cydwyrfodol? Felly mae'r ddaeth dechrau ac mae'r ddaeth â'r ddaeth yn ddod freedoma gwaith? Maes i'r ddaeth i'r ddaeth fel ddylch fel ddylch i'r ddaeth bydd echaewd? Mae hefyd iddyn nhw, maes i'n ddod wrth ei ddad hynny eich ddwylliannol. Felly mai gael i'r ddweud fy mod i ti'r gyflaun a'r ysgolwyr yn sefydlu angen am y parlymynau ar fy mod i'r ddaeth cymdeithasol, a eu ddwylliant ar y mynd. Mae'r gwaith i gael ei fath ym 11 yn mynd i, rwy'n credu arwag ar wneud y cyd-ũryd. Mae ym 17, wrth gyngor, o'r parwm gael y Cymru a Gaeloligol o'r fawr ar y Fawr I, i gael ei weld i hynny i gael eu gaelentio ar wyddiol kwrsiau a'i gael oedd chi i'w ddydych chi'n bwysig i'r fawr i'r bwysig i'w ddydd, i'u ddod oedd chi i gael ei ddysgu o'r fawr i'r gwylio, a gynnig sy'n gwylltech pmarlog fydd علىweithio ar hyn ryfwn cyfeiriad y�unchedd mewn ymreithia Online. Ieu hanfugɨng summiadau i Fan Býr, mae weithio iddo y myw i mrtwyr ancyfrif o oedlo unrhyw frasigau r povoiddio ndu gyffeithredeio rhagor am yr unrhyw growl i'i bros connection.sem joye i Gen monumentalu Widwca i'u bryenau i amser yn bobl eyesight gydag. Mae i fynd i'n gydag eilia味'r gwirionedd ysw caredydd angyl gramsledo, ac yn cael ei dargar yn taiach i gynnig ei headddo. Maelio'r angen yn ei wneud y gwirionedd i'w fwyllwg ar hyn o'r cymdeithasol ar y lleiddoedd y byddai penderfyn i'r unig, ac mae'n fwrdd mor hynny i'r lleiddoedd ydw i'r cyfnod. Mae'n bwysigau i'r gael i'r cyflogau am ddiweddol i'r gwerthfyniaid o'r acesmyd gyda i'r rhedegau gwirionedd i'r cyflogau. Rydym ni'n gwybodaeth ynghylch i'r cyflogau am ddiweddol i'r cyflogau am ddiweddol i'r cyflogau the continuing dedication of our veterans charitable sector without which Scotland could not make the offering it does. Secondly, the impact of Covid and the cost of living crisis, which has set new challenges for the delivery of support, along with the income streams of the organisations at the forefront of providing services. On a personal note, it's been good to meet up again with some familiar faces. I was pleased to be asked to speak at a veterans housing Scotland event in Glasgow City Chambers in June. In July, I visited Erskine's Veterans village, followed by an absolutely brilliant visit to Scotland's bravest manufacturing company. Last month, I was hosted at HMP Shots, where I met some of the veterans there—individuals in custody—and unveiled a fantastic painting at the entrance to the prison's remembrance area. I was also humbled to be able to attend this year's memorial gathering with the McCraves battalion trust at Conto Meson in northern France, on all those who fell during the Battle of the Somme, and to participate in marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War at the Scottish Korean War Memorial, a really peaceful and beautiful setting in the Bathgate hills. We should never forget such sacrifices, and in that context, I pay tribute to my predecessor Keith Brown, who was behind the Scottish Government launching this year the medals replacement scheme, under which we will fund the cost of replacing lost or stolen medals for eligible veterans' residence in Scotland. Collaboration is essential to ensuring that different organisations, each of whom can bring something unique to the table, can come together to deliver a coherent approach to support and services. That is all the more important than the current financially challenging circumstances. The Scottish Government has sought to encourage collaboration through our annual £500,000 Scottish Veterans Fund, which I was delighted to launch at community veterans support in Glasgow LL this year. We have further demonstrated our support for collaboration by agreeing to fund the Unforgotten Forces Consortium to support older veterans for an additional three years. This year's veterans fund prioritised support in the face of the cost of living crisis and for early service leavers. In total, 17 projects have been funded for £23.24, six of which offer support to veterans impacted by the cost of living crisis and two supporting early service leavers. This year I also welcomed the publication of Lord Etherton's LGBT veterans independent review, which examined the effects of the pre-2000 ban on homosexuality in the UK armed forces. The review is an emotive and at times extremely difficult read, but it is hugely important that people have had the opportunity to share their experiences and I want to acknowledge the bravery of those who did. It is now imperative that action is taken under reports and recommendations and we are looking closely at how best to deliver on the two suggestions that are directed at Scotland, which are around diversity and inclusivity for healthcare and housing providers to ensure that veterans do not face any repeat of the homophobic policies that they suffered in the armed forces. Presiding Officer, I will talk more about the future work of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner later, but I was pleased to see her annual progress report published last week. It is important to note that Susie Hamilton highlighted that we are making encouraging progress in a number of areas, notably health and wellbeing, employability and skills. We must not lose sight of the excellent work and the commissioner's recognition of the efforts that we continue to make in driving forward on the outstanding recommendations. However, a key function of the commissioner's role is to offer objective scrutiny. We must therefore acknowledge her areas of concern. This year Susie Hamilton highlighted two such areas, the pace of delivery of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan and the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway. On the former, she noted recent encouraging progress and members will know that a board was established to take forward an implementation plan. We look forward to receiving a fully developed and costed plan from the board this month. We are grateful for the work of the board members and the implementation team today as we continue to prioritise the delivery of high-quality mental health services for veterans in Scotland. It is important to remind members that we continue to jointly find the Veterans First Point Network, which offers a one-stop shop for veterans. We have provided £1.4 million of funding for specialist and community outreach services through combat stress every year since 2018-19. I am pleased to say that we have already progressed the elements of the recommendations in the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway. I am very grateful to the minister to give way. I also pass on my compliments to him for arranging the roundtables across all parties in this Parliament to allow problems and communications to pass more quickly than perhaps would otherwise happen. Will he join me in complementing forces children Scotland and particularly the role that young people have who are children of veterans and children of forces? Will he be able to deal with some of the challenges that his specific group will face later in his speech? All voices should be heard in the context of support for armed forces services and their family. If the member is going to cover that in his speech, I will be happy to pick up on that in due course. I will cover a degree of that as we move forward. On the subject of the homelessness situation, the minister for housing is actively considering where appropriate opportunities exist to raise the profile of veterans housing in homelessness as part of his regular discussions with organisations such as the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and COSLA. The minister has offered to meet the commissioner to discuss that further and demonstrate our cross-government commitment to veterans issues. We will continue to prioritise the delivery of the outstanding recommendations. Ensuring that veterans and their families move into meaningful, fulfilling employment after service continues to be a top priority this year, so the launch of the military school's Discovery 2. We remain committed to employing more veterans in the Scottish Government. I am delighted that veterans are now guaranteed an interview if they apply for a job in the organisation and meet the role's minimum criteria. This year, we also launched a campaign working with the business community to help employers to further understand the benefits that veterans bring to the workforce. Looking at veterans healthcare, the pilot of the armed forces and veterans general practice recognition scheme was trialled for three months this year across nine health board areas. We are using the feedback from the trial to further shape the scheme ahead of its national roll-out later this year. Obtaining greater data on the veterans community is also a key priority. I will talk more about that in closing, but we are expecting veterans-related data from the census question next year and findings from three Scottish Government major household surveys and the UK-wide veterans survey this year. It is vital, though, to not lose sight of the challenges that can be faced by the families and veterans and serving members of the armed forces. We are removing the barriers that some service families face than accessing funding for further education. We continue to fund the national education officer to provide advice and data on the needs of service families in education in Scotland. Despite the important work that we are doing to support veterans and their families, it is crucial to remember that ordinary citizens, such as the UNI and the overwhelming majority, leave the armed forces, integrate into society perfectly well and go on to lead positive and fulfilling lives. They get a good job, they find a suitable house and access to appropriate healthcare. We must continue, all of us, to challenge the outdated perception that veterans are somehow damaged by their experiences or are incapable of living a normal life like everyone else. That is simply not the case and it is important to remember that. There should be much greater focus on the huge contribution veterans and their families make to the fabric of Scottish society and communities across this nation. I hope that members in their contributions are able to balance the support that the minority of veterans may need with the positive impact that the overwhelming majority make. I want to highlight some of those many veterans who have transitioned from the military into civilian life in Scotland with immense success. For example, Scott Simon, an RAF veteran of 20 years, who has gone on to elite Olympic and Paralympic coaching, chairing Scotland Rugby League and laterally with CEO of Snowport Sports Scotland, or Leslie Speedy, a former army corporal who volunteered as community first responder with the Scottish Ambulance Service during the pandemic, developed a community response hub and now chairs the Blackwood and Kyrmurehill resilience group. We are also studying community response and recovery from crisis at university. There are just two examples and there are many more that I could give and I am sure that members across the chamber could do the same. Our veterans, their families and service families continue to contribute a huge amount to our society and I remain committed to providing the very best support for them. I offer on behalf of the Government our personal thanks to all the individuals and organisations who have contributed to the efforts during the past year and those who continue to work hard every day to support our veterans and armed forces community. I look forward to the contributions of members and responding to those in due course. I take this opportunity to advise members that there is a bit of time in hand should members wish to undertake interventions. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I like to say that I actually fall into that category as a veteran. I struggle saying that because it makes me feel old and I am like a classmate. Well, I am. Presiding Officer, I see some members saying that, but I prefer to be called an ex-soldier perhaps. Those of us on these benches over here are happy to support the motion today. I am pleased to be able to contribute to it and to feed into it as a minister as drafting it up. I would like to say that we share the view that veterans bring a huge amount to society in Scotland. Before I say any more about veterans, I would like to pay tribute to our armed forces. We should never forget that veterans probably have served in conflicts around the world and they allow us to sleep safely in our beds at night. They have never ever, as far as I am aware, as soldiers or sailors or airmen or whatever challenged the fact that they might have to pay the ultimate sacrifice. I also want to acknowledge those that will always remain on duty having paid that price. I have to say, Presiding Officer, I am slightly disappointed that there are no greens in the chamber to contribute to this debate. They are quick to accept the safety that our service personnel bring, and I think that it would be better if they were here to participate in it. Moving on to the veterans commissioner's report, I would take an intervention. Thank you very much, Mr Mountain. Just to make it clear, I am a pacifist, but it does not make me anti-army. I just want to put that on the record. I support the army of anti-war, which is a very different matter. Thank you, and I know Christine Grahame's position. In the 12 years that I was a soldier, I did all sorts of things. Mainly, a lot of them were supplying food to refugees and looking after refugee camps, which is not all about active soldiering, which I know Mr Brown and I paid tribute to him for the work that he did in the services. Some of us contributed in other ways, and I believe that that is why the armed services are vitally important. I would like to, at the outset, also thank the veterans commissioner for all that she has done since she has been appointed and all the veteran commissioners that preceded her. I think that their job is incredibly important. I do support the 81 recommendations, as I know that the Government did. I am pleased to see 35 being achieved. I think that this is a wonderful euphemism, perhaps 21 absorbed into other outcomes. I am sure that I understand that, but it still means that there are 25 still to be delivered, and we should work on those. I also welcome from the Scottish Government the veterans fund that they made and created. Of course, the minister would expect me to say this, that I expected and would hope that it was bigger. In the return, the minister would turn around as they always do and say, where should that money come from? Of course, my answer would be that I think veterans are vitally important, and we ought to consider them before we consider overseas trips and doing things overseas. There are a lot of good things that I think the Government has done. I think the recruiting website is a great idea. It just talks about skills that soldiers bring, and we can use that. We can talk about the leadership that they bring and the fact that they are used to making decisions, and they quietly get on with the job. I think that that recruiting website will allow that to come across. I also like the welcome to Scotland and the stopping social isolation. I also truthfully like, as well, the fact that the Scottish credit and qualifications framework, where an additional 40 military skills have been taken into account and recognised. I think it's really important to remember all these things. Where work is still required, though, I would like to say a little bit about resettlement. Be under no illusion that leaving the armed forces is unsettling, and it can be very difficult. It's difficult to say, as they say in the report, that that needs to be claimed ownership by the people that are leaving. You are actually, in many cases, leaving your family, leaving the organisation that you've worked with day and night, leaving your friends who not only do you work with, you socialise with, and there is a huge need to do quite a lot before you leave during the time that you're leaving and to be helped settle in afterwards to the communities you move to. I'm glad things have changed. I will give way on that. I'm very grateful to Edwin Mann for giving way, and indeed last night there was a very powerful reception here organised by forces, children and indeed Alexander Stewart. One of the things that the young people spoke about is the challenge that their parents and carers had in transitioning out of the armed forces, particularly with regard to housing and particularly with the practicalities of indeed how you even go about renting when prior to that all accommodation had been provided. Edwin Mann. I think the member must have read my speech. I hope I didn't leak it, but I'm going to come to that if I may. The point is that things have moved on from the days when I left the army when I was given £500 for a resettlement course and four days to get out of my house. Things have moved on from that, but it is deeply unsettling and we do need to do more. I think that the army could do more, the services could do more. I think that there should be a better focus on resettlement, and I think that in Scotland we could do more to help people settle in. I am running short of time. How much time have I got this on? Plenty of time. Two points, and I don't disagree much of what Edwin Mann said. I think that he would agree, I hope, that one of the things that we can do is raise awareness amongst the serving military about the ability to earn housing points, for example, while still serving. There is an issue about awareness of what's on offer, and would he also agree with me that one of the issues that we have is—this is a good thing—that many people weave the army in one part of the UK to move to another. Many of them come to Scotland, and there is an issue about making them aware of what's available in the country that they are moving to. Edwin Mountain. Thank you for that intervention. I think that it's right, and I think that the MOD has a role to play in housing and in helping people into housing. I have badgered my colleagues down south about getting the MOD to make houses available to allow people to move to the area where they want to settle in. Those MOD houses should be made available for a period of time while people get the opportunity to find alternative housing. I know that there's work done on it, but I also need to think that we could do more. I find it deeply disappointing that there are empty service accommodation across Scotland, but there are problems that I'm sure members will be aware about—leases and sorting that out. I think that we need to all work together on that. I would just say on homelessness—it's not just also about homelessness—it's about being providing substandard accommodation. The Minister helped me this year to re-house somebody who was in totally unsuitable housing and, frankly, was a disgrace. The council, when pushed, reacted quite hard. The other thing I would just say on medical—I think that there's a lot more that we could do on the medical support that we give our soldiers—we need to be aware that some of their medical records may not be as complete as other people's medical records for very good reason. I do believe that there's the ability to claim back medication as a result that's required as a result of their service from the UK Government. I'm not sure we'd do that in Scotland, should we be doing it, because there is a fund to allow us to do that. I'm told, Minister. So, where are we now? Have I got—how much more time have I got? I can give you a couple of minutes, Mr Speaker. Okay, Presiding Officer. Thank you. Where are we now? I think the point is that, the Minister made, our soldiers do integrate. It was not that long ago I was in King UC delivering leaflets, bizarrely enough, and I didn't notice the ambulance that came up behind me and almost nudged me before it put its sirens on. I tell you, I've never jumped so quickly in all my life to find that it was an ex-trooper that I'd served with in the army. Bizarrely enough, not long later, I was stopped by a traffic policeman with all the lights going, which, of course, made my heart rush, to find that it was an ex-surgeon who'd served with me and was paying me back for something I'd said to him many years ago. And, you know, these things happen, yeah. He didn't charge me. I had my MOT and insurance, and I would also say that I've met soldiers that I served with driving lorries for big stores. So, we do reintegrate and reintegrate very well. And I mean, the fact that there are two veterans in this parliament probably proves that, I would say as well. So, in summary, I think soldiers do fit in and sailors and all the servicemen and women, but we do need help when we're moving. We do bring huge skills to Scotland when we come here and come to live here, even if it's returning home. And those skills include leadership, the ability to solve problems, I think diligence in the workplace, hard work on nearly all occasions and loyalty. And that's why, I think, as a country, Scotland should welcome veterans with open arms, because I think they make a huge contribution to the communities they join. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Mr Mountain. And I now call on Paul Sweeney, who's joining us remotely. Mr Sweeney. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. And I'm pleased to be opening for Labour in today's debate on the Government motion on support for the veterans and armed forces community in Scotland. And I thank the Minister for Advanced Sight of the Veterans Annual Report and welcome back to his appointment, which I know he takes care of with great diligence. It is important that we work cross-party in the interests of those who serve and have served our country, particularly as they transition back to civilian life. And I think Sir Edward, a Conservative member for Helens and Ellens spoke very powerfully about that implication and the complexities of that. But it also is a wider definition. Many of our veterans are actually reserved to live in our communities and have all along. But they also have complex experiences, not least in recent years, with operations overseas and the complexities of dealing with trauma and grief associated with those operational deployments. As my party spokesperson for veterans and the armed forces in Scotland, I am in regular contact with veterans and their families with the third sector organisations providing support and other stakeholders. And through that invaluable engagement, I am constantly learning and developing understanding of the issues facing veterans, armed forces personnel and their families and the realities of their day-to-day lives. Indeed, just this week, I had the privilege, along with parliamentary colleagues, of visiting Glincorce Barracks in Midlodion, which is home to the Army's initial assessment centre for Scotland in Northern England, as well as the Royal Helen Fusiliers, second battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, led by commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Dunn. We were afforded a fantastic immersive insight to the full journey for the young soldier beginning an initial assessment training through to deployment on operations, indeed with a force protection company from Two Scots due to deploy to Erbil in Iraq in December for a three-month period. Speaking to personnel and their families there, they shared a great pride in being part of the Army and the Scots regimental family, but also shared some concerns, practical concerns regarding the costs of pursuing a career in the Army. I think that that is a critical consideration. How do we ensure that people are able to maintain their service for as long as they wish to do so and aren't placed in an invidious position where they have to terminate their service and perhaps prematurely become veterans? Indeed, a good example of this in discussion with soldiers and their families at the Barracks was the access to 30 hours of free childcare entitlement close to the base can be onerous and expensive. I would encourage the minister to engage with the Army in Scotland on this particular issue and identify a suitable way to address this concern, because my longer term concern is if that feedback continues to get fed back to the Minister of Defence, it may adversely affect future base planning strategies and potentially further reduce the Army's footprint in Scotland. Labour welcomes the progress outlined in the annual report, such as the developing of the Scottish credit qualifications framework partnerships, military skills discovery tool and the awareness-raising work on financial support available to veterans. However, the implementation must be faster in some areas, as the minister has highlighted. The Scottish Veterans Commissioner's annual report last week noted concern at the delay in implementing the veterans' mental health and wellbeing action plan, with it taking on average more than 10 years for a veteran to ask for support for their mental health. Implementing that plan is an absolute priority that we all need to take seriously to prevent people from reaching a crisis point. Further, the report also highlighted and cited concern at the delay in delivering the veterans' homelessness prevention pathway, stating that little has been achieved today and progress in implementing this much needed pathway is slow, with no clear milestones or timelines provided. That is despite 690 former members of the Armed Forces being assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness in 2022-2023, which is an increase of 40 since the previous year. The introduction of guidance such as the wellbeing plan and the homelessness prevention pathway is very welcome indeed, but these strategies need to be resourced and implemented in a timely and practical manner if they are to have their desired effects. Third sector organisations are certainly valuable in supporting veterans' Armed Forces personnel and their families within their local communities. Indeed, I often cite in my own city of Glasgow's Helping Heroes model, which I believe is a stand-out example of a one-stop shop support service for veterans. Its model provides advice and practical case work benefits for housing and homelessness in a number of other areas such as employability and training, financial advice and healthcare. Indeed, research from the University of Stirling and Glasgow Caledonian University found that the social return on investment for the Glasgow's Helping Heroes service is a return of £6.63 for every £1 invested. It is a one-way bet for us to further look at that model and its scalability across Scotland. Further outline analysis of the pre-pandemic years placed that return figure even higher at £11.68 for every £1 invested. That gateway model is a great example of how to access support and how it should look, and I hope that there will be many other positive examples like it across Scotland. I look forward to members highlighting those as the debate progresses. I would be grateful if the Minister could outline in his closing remarks what the Scottish Government is doing to support those pockets of positive practice to learn from them and ultimately to capture them and scale them up so that all veterans in Scotland have a right to localised and effective support. The Veterans and Armed Forces community is an asset to Scottish society. As I said in my opening remarks, we must work on a cross-party basis to harness their potential and ensure that they have the necessary support. That means being honest about where things are working well but also where things could be better. I have set out some examples where progress is being made and Labour are happy to work constructively with the Government on areas that need further development. I welcome the opportunity to debate this important topic this afternoon and I confirm that these benches support both the Government motion and the Conservative amendment. The minister was right when he talked about the need to celebrate and recognise the contribution that members and ex-members of the military make. I think that he is right about that, and I have met some very talented people who have made great contributions to society and to the people that they work for now. However, he also knows that it is really important that this Parliament focuses on what we need to do better. There are many areas that we need to do better because I have met lots of people who are unsure of who they are who have seen horrific things in the field of combat, horrific events, murders, deaths, and very traumatic things involving people of all ages. It lives with them forever, so we should focus on what we can do better to help these people who are really struggling to fit back into society, whilst also recognising, as he says, that there are some very many talented people who do great things for their employers but also for society. I am sorry that I am not with you today, but I was tested positive for Covid this morning. I know that the minister will miss me, but I thought it would be best to speak from home this afternoon. The Government was keen to get a consensus this afternoon, but I hope that the minister will forgive me that we tried to table amendment, which was not accepted, but we wanted to press the point about pupil equity funding for pupils, for young people of children of armed forces and veterans. It is something that I will return to later on in my speech, but I think that it is important to try and press the Government more so that we can make some more progress on helping young people in this area. First, I want to cover a couple of things. It has already been covered by others in their contributions, but it is important to emphasise what needs to improve, and it is the Veterans Commissioner's report. The minister was right also to recognise the criticism and its authority's credit for doing so, but she pointed out to some successes, but also particular areas of slow progress in terms of health and employment, but also mental health and homelessness, prevention require further progress. The progress on the delivery of the veterans' mental health and wellbeing action plan was described as slow, and that is just not good enough. We need to move so much faster if our words are to mean anything. She said that the recent updates have been more encouraging, but the Government must be entertained if it is going to mean to deliver a mental health and wellbeing pathway for veterans, which is timely and effective. The commissioner was also critical of progress on the veterans' homeless prevention pathway. They were more than a year on from the proposals being published, but she said that little has been achieved to date, and again progress is slow with no clear milestones or timelines, and this is really important. The reason is simple. The Scottish Veterans Residency said that approximately 800 households, including veterans, make homelessness applications every year. They also highlighted that homelessness can occur many years after discharge because of delayed transition, which can be due to a reluctance to seek help or the deferred impact of a previous trauma. As much as we publicly value the service of those in the armed forces, we should also recognise that the burden also falls on their families, and in particular their children. The armed forces covenant says that members of the armed forces community should face notice advantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. We should have the same commitment for their children's education. Many young people with parents in the services are forced to chop and change between schools as they move around for their parents' work. That can be disruptive to their studies and their friendships. For many, the worry of having a parent away in a dangerous place for a long time also means that they often need extra support. One of the measures I was especially supported of when my Liberal Democrat colleagues were in government introduced was the service pupil premium in England, £335 of funding per child from the beginning of school age until 16. Funded direct to schools to support as teachers think best to give young people the extra help they need with their mental health and their schoolwork. It is clear that this funding has made a real difference for many young people. In some schools, it has been used to employ dedicated members of staff to support and mentor service children. Pupils at one secondary school said that having an interested adult mentor who understands the demands placed on service families has helped them to feel less isolated, especially when one of their parents is on deployment and has helped them to build strong friendship groups to support them with their attendance during difficult times. At primary school, the funding allows them to provide outside learning to support to work with pupils, building on their social skills, self-esteem and developing positive attitudes to learning, raising academic achievement. Despite the success of this policy in England, more than a decade on from its introduction, I have not yet persuaded the Scottish Government to support it. The numbers are significant as 2,500 children of service personnel living in Scotland are missing out on support. I hope that the Minister will reconsider the position, especially with his new role in education but also with the armed forces community. I think that we want to do right by veterans, the armed forces community and their children. The progress that is identified by the commissioner deserves to be acknowledged as does her criticism, but we should always ask what more we can do. The service pupil premium is something positive that the Government could do. Thank you, Mr Rennie. We now move to the open debate. I call Christine Graham to be followed by Mekin Gallagher. It is a privilege to speak in this debate, as I have in previous similar debates. I also have direct experience of armed forces and their families through my engagement with Glencorth barracks in my constituency. Indeed, just this week, I was back there with other MSPs, including Mr Sweeney, to visit. At one point, the barracks were threatened with closure by the MOD, but that has now been reprieved. I would add that Pena Cwcians very much support the barracks, which is integral to the community and, of course, the children all attending local schools. Although the visit this week was generally to be briefed about the diverse and challenging role of the army these days and the processes for recruitment, it also involved discussing, as it should, the pressures on personnel returning home from a tour, the pressures on partners and families, and then, finally, on discharge. To put some context on specific pressures on armed forces, I spoke to one serving officer who began his service as a teenager in Northern Ireland, then had tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Returning to home, not only where there may be a partner who has been running the household single-handed for months, bringing its own challenges for both, but this is compounded if there are young children who are unfamiliar with their returning parent and that parent perhaps bearing the imprint of terrible sights and sounds which have to be sanitised in our news bulletins. Indeed, I learned that there is a two-week decompression process, so that the returning from conflict, despite understandable desperation to go straight home, that time, that two weeks has spent adjusting before going back to domesticity. This is even more relevant when leaving the structure of life and the forces for good. Yes, you are coming out with skills, you have been part of a team, you may have been a team leader, these may be immediately transferable to civil life, IT skills, trades and so on, but some may need retraining. Add to that simply having to organise basic aspects of everyday life which the armed forces have done for you over the years, a GP, a home. Then, if you are in a relationship, as I have referenced, you have to rebalance responsibilities with your partner, you are coming home every day, you may be working from home, this must put pressures on relationships, you have to get acclimatised to general everyday civil life, you must organise yourself when, as I have said previously, days and years were organised for you and you are separated from close-knit colleagues. Deputy Presiding Officer, there are estimated to be over 200,000 veterans in Scotland with its understood a higher percentage living in rural areas, historically where families over generations joined various long-gone regiments such as in the borders, the King's own Scottish borders. Over the decades, the emojis come a long way in recognising and acting on its duties, not just as an employer but with a fiduciary duty extending beyond in my group those seven years. This Parliament too has stepped in, aware that veterans are assets to our society but do many require support and that there is a small proportion who find the transition to civilian life more challenging and are due the right support to ensure that they too are able to adapt, realise their potential and live full and successful lives after service in the community. But a small proportion find the transition too tough. I understand that there were around 243 prisoners in Scottish jails in July this year who had served in the armed forces according to Scottish Prison Service figures. But similar figures have never been collated for those given sentences such as community payback order, supervision or tagging. People with non-custodial sentences do not get support, which should and is often offered to those in prison. Those veterans fall between metaphorical cracks. I would ask through the minister if he would ask the cabinet secretary for justice to pursue the recording of this information on those veterans who receive a criminal sentence but not a custodial sentence. Not just for its own sake, although that is useful, but to provide support there too. The armed forces charity SAFA has caseworkers to work with people serving community sentences, and Police Scotland has veterans champions at divisional level, but they need to know who they are and where they are. Finally, Lothian's Veterans Centre in Dalkeith is a small independent charity that supports military veterans and their families. It offers a safe, relaxed and supportive environment where like-minded people can share experiences, gain professional and peer support in a home-from-home setting, breaking down barriers of social exclusion and promoting comradeship. It has a drop-in centre in the centre of Dalkeith, which I visited, with a welcoming environment that can provide instant assistance, support and advice in relation to a wide range of services, including health and wellbeing, housing, employment, benefits, pensions, further education and training and access to health services, but also welfare, comradeship and activities. Veterans can also just drop in for a cup of tea and a chat. Most of their professional team have served in the armed forces or are connected with the armed forces in some way, so they possess a wealth of experience and it also means that they offer an empathetic approach to supporting veterans of their family members, making their transition from military to civilian life easier. I commend them and we direct veterans to their website and that of SAFA. Thank you, Ms Graham. I now call Megan Gallacher to be followed by Audrey Nicolle. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I begin by apologising to the chair and to the chamber as I will need to leave shortly after my contribution this afternoon. Edward Mountain was spot on as usual. It is right that we highlight the challenges our veterans face, the report by the Veterans Commissioner and the work that is on-going to better support our veterans. However, as a Parliament, we do not really focus on the contributions that our servicemen and women bring to our country and it does not stop when they leave the forces. That is where I would like to start my contributions today, because I know a wonderful group of ex-servicemen and women in Lanarkshire, Veclan. Veterans Community Lanarkshire is a charity that supports veterans and their families in the Lanarkshire area. They are based in Craig Newk but also hold a drop-in cafe every Friday in the King's Church in Motherwell. I must say that the soup is delicious. I have had the pleasure of their company on many an occasion and they are one of the many reasons that I am proud to live in Lanarkshire. Like many veterans, they want this Government to focus on issues that matter to them and their community. Our veterans fought for our rights and freedoms and I believe that giving them the right support and tools is the least that we can do when they retire from service. Veclan are the custodians of war memorials in Lanarkshire. They care for, clean and tidy these important landmarks and I know of many other groups across Scotland who also take on this important role. The chamber might be aware of the stark increase in the number of war memorials that have been desecrated in recent years. War memorials were commissioned throughout towns and villages in Scotland to commemorate the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could live in a world free of tyranny and oppression. For many of the families and relatives, those memorials provide the only focal point for remembering. It is the names of their loved ones who have been etched into the hundreds of war memorials across the country. They are emotive and at the very heart of communities. It is important that we continue to meet at these important landmarks and that younger generations are educated on what the names on the structures fought and died for. Since 1996, there have been 66 attacks on war memorials in Scotland, and although that number appears low, almost 70 per cent have occurred since 2014. That is a worrying trend. Data shows that most attacks have taken place across the central belt, particularly in the area that I represent. During my time as a councillor and now MSP, I have been made aware of several incidents of war memorials being damaged and vandalised. The first incident was the war memorial situated in the Duchess park in Motherwell in 2019. I was horrified by the wording of the graffiti that had been drawn all over the names of soldiers who fought and died for our country. Words such as fascists, rats alongside the phrase scum of the earth. That is what was written in red wax that had been stained into the stone, and although some community members and veterans had attempted to clean it off, it required a specialised stone mason to carry out the repair work. Following that attack, I have been involved in other incidents such as the memorial in Coatbridge, Larkhall war memorial grounds, the Spanish Civil War memorial in Motherwell, and the Holytown War memorial. It should not be left to veterans and specialised stone masons to carry out those repairs, because it should not be happening in the first place. Due to the levels of victax on war memorials across Scotland, groups such as the Friends of Deniston war memorial have been at the forefront of a campaign to bring in better protections. They have organised a successful social media campaign to highlight the number of incidents, and they have brought together groups of people who care about our heritage, our history and our war dead. They have petitioned this Parliament on numerous occasions, asking that more is done to protect those sites from the mindless and abhorrent tax on those memories of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but sadly that did not go any further. That is why I have launched a consultation on a proposed member's bill entitled Desecration of War Memorials Prevention Scotland Bill. That is a bill that is asked for by veterans to support veterans and their families that are in forces community, and anyone who has a loved one's name placed on a war memorial. Because, as it stands, when war memorials are desecrated, the law treats that as vandalism. That feels to both recognise the distress cost to communities and the significance of those landmarks. It treats desecrating a war memorial the same way as it would a lamp post or a telephone box. My bill would create the offence of a desecration of a war memorial and increase the range of sanctions available for prosecuting damage caused to a war memorial. I am hoping that that bill would create a stronger deterrent and ensure that war memorials are given the protection that they deserve. As I have said, that bill is for our armed forces in veterans community, for those who have lost a loved one during conflict, or for those who are related or know someone whose name is etched into the stone. The consultation will run until the 19th of December, and I urge everyone to fill it in. I am also asking if the minister will consider my proposals of this important bill and consider giving it his backing. That would show that the Parliament is truly on the side of veterans and on the side of fallen soldiers for whom we owe so much. I am very pleased to speak in this debate this afternoon and at the outset I pay tribute to all our military personnel who have committed to making the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedom to our veterans commissioner and all the organisations supporting our armed forces and veteran community. I pay particular tribute to support our paras. Today I want to focus on two areas, education and employment. Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Jerry Matthew Smith from the Centre for Military Research and Military Engagement at Edinburgh Napier University to discuss the findings in her report on your own now, understanding current experiences of transition to civilian life in Scotland. Among the issues that are explored in the report is access to education. The report notes that despite the advantages that result from academic qualifications, veterans do not often pursue such a pathway. I am pleased that an articulation mechanism has been developed with the University of Struthclyde to allow those with an HND qualification to enter initial teacher education. I am also pleased that the Scottish Government continues to develop the service children's progression alliance to support service children access higher and further education too. Separately, however, I am aware that access to education for spouses and partners is challenging where service personnel have enlisted in England but are now based in Scotland. In those circumstances, a partner wishing to study in Scotland is not entitled to have their fees paid. Wearing in mind families play a vital role in facilitating successful transitions. While I understand the circumstances of the restriction, I would be interested in any update that the minister may be able to provide on options to look at this issue further. Turning to the veterans in the energy sector, many energy companies are increasingly recognising the benefits of recruiting men and women from the armed forces, and they can offer a range of employment opportunities. Qualities such as team leadership, organisational skills and technological knowledge are all highly prized by the sector, and career opportunities exist in the fields of engineering, project management, health and safety and the skilled trades. To meet its future commitments, the sector is already working to match industry job profiles with military roles, identify in transferable positions and, importantly, train and conversion opportunities. On that note, would you join me in welcoming the repair work that the reservists from the 7th battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland, carried out on the Gordon Highlanders Museum's World War 1 trench this July? The good work that they have done is very supportive of what the museum is trying to keep going in regards to their education. I thank my friend and colleague Jackie Dunbar for her intervention and, of course, the Gordon Highlanders Museum is in my constituency. I know the value of the work that they do not just in supporting vocational work and practical work, but also in offering a space for veterans and others to come together. It is a highly valued resource in the north-east of Scotland. I am pleased that Offshore Energy's UK has signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant and received the Employer Recognition Scheme Bronze Award, and, similarly, Port of Aberdeen has also signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant. Those are only two of many examples of the way that the sector values veterans and service leavers. I am pleased to note the Veterans Commissioner progress update on aligning military and civilian skills and qualifications. I know that that is not necessarily always a straightforward process, and I am also pleased to note the military skills and qualifications discovery tool. I look forward to reading the commissioner's annual report that has just been published, but having had a quick look at it today, I note the update on the work of Skills Development Scotland and how that is continuing to develop with the career transition partnership to refer new employers to them and the close relationship between Skills Development Scotland and veteran organisations. I was very pleased to note that the new recruit veterans.scot website has been launched and contains some extremely helpful information for businesses about the benefits veterans can bring to the workforce. I urge all members to highlight the website in their constituencies and regions. Of course, the Scottish Government veteran strategy action plan and the veterans fund continues to underpin much of the work that is being progressed in Scotland, and I know that the minister is utterly committed to the work, particularly as he flagged. We are still all grappling with the cost of living crisis and the lag of Covid. I want to conclude my contribution today with just a couple of quotes from some young serving personnel who I engaged with in preparation for today. They told me that the army is very accommodating to welfare issues, however it varies from unit to unit. Some regiments have well-oiled welfare support in place through charities such as Combat Stress and Support Our Paras. They are absolutely vital for welfare help, but to be honest, simply chatting to each other and having each other there for support is the most important, and I know that we will lend our weight to that support. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and to recognise the importance of our veterans and armed forces community. The Government motion is right to highlight the valuable contribution that it makes to our communities and society. We all want to see our veterans and armed forces community supported in the best way possible to secure the best outcomes for them and their families. The publication of the annual update on Scottish Government support for the community ahead of this debate is welcome. It highlights some areas where progress has been made and the vital role of those working to deliver quality support across the public, private and third sectors. Historically, Fife has had a long and proud tradition with the military, with the Royal Naval Base in Rosyth, and first the RAF, and more recently the army base at Llu Kerts. Close to 20,000 veterans are estimated to live in Fife with their families, and we have a number of organisations involved in providing support and advice to that community, including the Fife Community Covenant Partnership, the Armed Services Advice Project, SSAFA Fife and Veterans First Point. I want to raise a matter that I know the minister is aware of around blue badge entitlement and specifically the differences in eligibility criteria for a blue badge between Scotland and England and how it relates to PTSD. I appreciate that there has been correspondence directly with my constituent about this, outlining the approach that is taken across Scotland. However, I would suggest that consideration should be given to looking at the scheme, at how the scheme could be improved for veterans and to take better account of their particular circumstances. It does seem unfair to me that veterans are disadvantaged in Scotland compared to England, and their needs are not always being met through the scheme because a higher threshold is being set in Scotland. I will now focus on some of the work that has gone on in Fife, particularly looking at some of the challenges around social isolation and mental wellbeing, which are too sadly relevant for our veterans community. The report from the Scottish Veterans Commissioner has highlighted mental health as one of the areas that we need to see further progress in. I do hear the minister's concern that we recognise the huge contribution that veterans make every day to their communities, and I do pay tribute to the community, but our responsibility here is also to look at where we can improve people's lives and improve their opportunities. The publication earlier this year of Recovering Our Connections is an important step in the work to address social isolation and loneliness, and its commitment to engage with veterans organisations is welcome. We must take steps to better identify how to support the armed forces community and strengthen social connections, including by building on successful work that is already taking place. Across my region, we have a number of breakfast clubs that can play an important part in daily life. They provide social contact and camaraderie, as well as a place to talk about accessing relevant services. In recent years of the development of the Rosewell Centre in Lahore as a dedicated mental health and wellbeing centre for veterans, it provides cycle social support programme that is delivered by veteran peer support workers who aim to address key aspects of veteran wellbeing, such as employment, financial stability and social connection. Organisations such as the Veterans Foundation are supporting charities across the UK on a range of projects, and Fife Employment Access Trust uses funding from the Veterans Foundation to deliver the Grow Your Kind programme, an outdoor-based personal development and employability course for former armed forces personnel with mental health conditions. The six-month programme provides veterans with experience of horticulture and conservation alongside teaching techniques for them to manage their mental health and is just one of the many funded grants from the Foundation. Families of those leaving the armed forces also go through huge adjustments in their lives. I have previously met Ruby Boots, run by Forces Children Scotland, which helps young people to prepare for their parents leaving the armed forces. As part of their work, they provide a peer body system for a young person who has already made the change to civilian life, mentors other young people and supports them through the process. Ruby Boots was set up after young people told Forces Children Scotland that specific help was not there for them when parents decided to leave the forces, and I welcome that they are now able to provide that support. The work of organisations like those in my region and across Scotland is so important to improving the lives of our veterans and armed forces community and their families. We all recognise the hard work and commitment that goes into delivering it across so many third sector organisations, as well as those in the public and private sector. The new data on veterans gathered in the census is one of the more positive outcomes of the recent census process, and I hope that that can be used to effectively inform other work. Data collection is an important part of ensuring that policy is not only direct in the right places but in allowing us to assess the effectiveness of interventions. There needs to be improvements made around the collection of figures on veterans and armed forces community in terms of the impact of alcohol and drug use, so we can better ensure that support is getting to those who need it. While figures show that around 3 per cent of those who engage in drug and alcohol treatment services are veterans, it is vital that we are delivering outreach work to target those who are not in treatment but might be in need of help. Recent publications related to drug deaths have not included specific information on veterans, and this may be an area that is worth requiring greater focus. In looking at the criminal justice system, while those serving custodial centres are asked whether they are ex-service personnel—I have not spent time, I will leave any—there are ex-service personnel and offered support from SACRO and SSAA, similar information is not collected for those receiving community payback orders, supervision or tagging, and they do not get the same support offered to those in prison. As Christine Grahame has already highlighted in the debate, there are gaps in the data that we need to address to ensure that we better serve the needs of veterans across our society, and I very much support the calls for improvements in this area. I am well done for getting to the end. I guess that most people in the chamber hope that you have not been spending too much time with Mr Rennie in the circumstances, particularly those sitting right beside you. It is a pleasure to speak in this debate this afternoon on Scotland's veterans and armed forces community. I have had a read-through of the annual update, and it contains some very important and useful information. I would like to start by echoing the comments that the minister made and others, Edward Mountain and Willie Rennie, made about the veterans community in Scotland, in the fact that, in the vast majority of cases, veterans manage that transition and are very constructive and valuable members of society in all walks of life. Of course, it is important, as has been pointed out by the minister and others, that we recognise the fact that, notwithstanding that, there are challenges in certain areas, and we should do all that we can as a Parliament to support that transition. For many, many reasons, because it is important for veterans and their families, but also because it is important for our society and our broader economies, I will come on to talk about. I wanted to focus on areas that, in my remarks this afternoon, are around veterans' experience on accessing housing and other support services, interactions with the justice service, employment opportunities, but also, very importantly, the contribution that veterans can make to Scotland's society and economy. The Scottish veterans commissioner called for improvements in housing support, identifying over half of service leavers and leave service without housing arrangements in place to the level that they need to be. I welcome the Scottish Government's focus on this area with the Veterans Scotland housing group and the work that it is taking forward. I would also like to highlight the work of Scottish veterans residences, which Scotland's oldest services charity dating to 1910 operate three premises across Scotland, the Whiteford premises across the Royal Mile from the Parliament. Members will be aware of premises in Dundee and the Bellrock closed premises in my constituency in Glasgow Provin. I am delighted to have an opportunity today to wear the SVR tie on the occasion of this debate. The residents provide not just housing support but counselling benefits, claims and war pensions, support with education, training and access to volunteer work, opportunities and activities, sports and hobbies for veterans. I have had the pleasure of visiting on several occasions the Bellrock closed premises in my constituency, which was purpose-built for veterans. It contains 30 fully furnished one-bed flats that veterans can stay in for up to 18 months, where their transition is supported with wraparound support across a whole range of services, including education, training and employability. Future housing needs health and wellbeing, including access to therapeutic counselling and a very well-used and well-kitted gym, plus an IT suite cafe and a whole range of other curricular activities that veterans can engage in in a very effective setting. The residence also contains 21 self-contained flats that residents can move into and stay there permanently at affordable rents, so I recommend and commend the work that they do. The second day that I want to recover was the interaction of veterans with the justice system, not least because Barlinnie prison resides in my province. As has been identified in the report and by the minister and others, there are significant gaps in data. I welcome further work that has been undertaken by the Government with ONS through the census and other routes to flesh out that data. Understanding veterans' experiences and circumstances is much better understood, but the data that I have managed to find indicates that there are around 220,000 ex-US armed forces personnel residing in Scotland, which is, I think, slightly less than 5 per cent of the adult population. Recent data from the Scottish Prison Services Survey from 2019 indicates that around 11 per cent of prisoners have armed forces backgrounds, so clearly the proportion that is represented in that cohort indicates the need for further work to be done to address those challenges, understand the reasons for that disproportionate representation and provide support services to mitigate that where possible. It is therefore welcome that Police Scotland pledges under the Armed Forces Covenant to support the veterans community and introduce veterans' champions in the custody and criminal justice environment to help to address some of those issues. The next thing that I want to touch on was the very welcome narrative in the report and from the minister in viewing veterans as assets to our community and our economy, particularly in an environment where labour and skills shortages are the biggest single challenge facing businesses. It is great to see that the campaign launched with businesses to help employers to understand the benefits that the veterans can bring to the workforce. Skills experience, clearly, often in very challenging circumstances, can equip them very well to deal with working for a business. Indeed, it will. I wonder who would agree with me—I totally agree with the points that he is making—that there is a challenge here for employers to evangelise far more about why they recruit from the veterans cohort, because they do not do it out of altruism. As the member has alluded to, they do it because they get a fantastic, reliable workforce. I completely agree with the minister in that regard. I think that that may benefit from a conversation that we can have later about how I can use my on-going interaction with the business community in many sectors to raise the topic and the opportunity that, as he rightly identifies, veterans can bring to businesses across a whole range of sectors with the skills and experiences that they possess. I welcome the work that is on-going with SDS and other work to provide support for veterans in accessing skills. The final point that I wanted to make was roundabout the Government's very welcome ambition for Scotland to be viewed as a destination of choice for service leavers and their families. I think that that is hugely important, not just for the aspiration that it sets for us to raise the bar in terms of the support and the landing zones that are available for ex-service personnel and their families within Scotland, but also the opportunity that it gives for Scotland to attract talent from the rest of the UK, who have that armed forces background if they recognise that Scotland is a great place for them to base themselves, their families and start their careers after the leave service. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I now call Maggie Chapman to be followed by Alec Rowley, and Ms Chapman is joining us remotely. I hope that Edward Mountain will apologise for stating that Scottish Greens were not contributing to today's debate in the age of hybrid working just because Scottish Greens, or indeed Liberal Democrats, are not in the chamber. That does not mean that we are not contributing, as Willie Rennie's earlier contribution and my speaking now indicates. Like Christine Graham, I am a pacifist, but that does not mean that I do not care about how we treat our veterans and what support we provide them and their families. I welcome the opportunity to reflect on and discuss the Scottish Government's annual update to Parliament, and I welcome the opportunity to recognise the positive contributions that veterans make to many of our communities. Of course, it is important that we continue to strive to do more to support veterans. The minister highlighted some of the areas where good progress is being made, but there is always more we can do and must do, as we have already heard from others. I want to particularly thank the minister for his comments today and previously about Lord Everton's LGBT veterans independent review. This important report published this year examines the service and experience of LGBTQI veterans who served in the UK Armed Forces between 1967 and 2000. It describes the terrible consequences for individuals and families of that period's shameful official policy of homophobia and transphobia. I add my personal solidarity and sorrow, join the review's calls for recognition, apology and restitution, and look forward to discussing with the minister its recommendations to the Scottish Government. The minister has also spoken about the opportunities he has had in his role to remember and memorialise those who have been sent to war. For remembering matters, we are, after all, approaching that time of year when things that are very different often have a habit of being elided, conflated and conveniently confused. It centres, of course, on Remembrance Day when we pause to remember those who died in conflict, perhaps especially in the brutal horrors of the First World War. But as the last of that war's veterans have passed away, their testimony is silent, something new began to emerge. The core of the Remembrance Message never again was plastered over with new and shiny messages of the thrill of battle, the success of the so-called defence industry, the trailing remnants of British imperial power. We owe it, I think, both to those who died in war and those who still live with its legacy, veterans and civilians, to remember accurately and well. Care for veterans and their families is much too important to be tied up with unquestioning support for all that the armed forces do, or are called to do, or for the deadly industry whose products they deploy. Just as solidarity with the people of Ukraine and resistance to the Putin regime must not be a cover for the normalisation of war and impunity for the arms trade, Putin's power was enabled by many forces and factors, including national leaders mesmerised by his macho image and greedy for his oligarchs billions. Last minutes' words to hostility are about as convincing as there are other stories. Meanwhile, the invasion leads thousands more wounded veterans in Europe, thousands more bereaved families, lost lives, homeless refugees. It leads devastating environmental loss throughout the region and food shortages far beyond. The victims of war are never only those in uniform. The deadly tentacles of this war are spreading far in both place and time to blight the lives of future as well as present generations. As today's motion and review reflect, we owe respect and care for veterans after they have served in our armed forces. But we also owe it to them and to present and potential forces members to pay proper attention to the causes or the violent conflicts they may be called upon to join. In an era when UK personnel take part in UN peacekeeping missions, often in some of the poorest and most environmentally vulnerable parts of the world, global decisions more and more impact the lives of Scottish veterans. We know some of those causes very well, political power games, arms trade profiteering and struggles for resources. Those resources, of course, include fossil fuels and minerals, so often a curse for those who live right alongside them. But increasingly conflicts are arising over access to fresh water and to fertile land. Those shortages, those struggles and their tragic consequences are all, of course, heightened, deepened and broadened by growing climate change and inequality. Last month saw a crucial UN summit on the Sustainable Development Goals, representing the halfway point before their aspirational achievement date of 2030. Those goals, as we know, are absolutely fundamental core obligations shared internationally. They are recognised as essential to any hope of a liveable, just and peaceful world for the children of today. Because they are so vital, many Government delegations to that summit were headed by their leaders, but not all. For some Governments had other work they decided to do, the work of dismantling their plans for decarbonisation, the work of approving new fossil fuel extraction, the work of sacrificing essential climate action and of demonising refugees. Those actions and inactions shamelessly light the fuel of future conflicts throughout the globe. Causing future veterans. Conflicts in which many will be killed and wounded, many wearing military uniform, but many too in school uniform, many in baby clothes. If we want, as this motion reminds us, to pay honest respect to veterans now and in the weeks to come, we must listen to what they tell us about their needs here and now. Their needs for employment support, healthcare, children's education, supporting prisons and beyond, as highlighted by Christine Grahame. Indeed, all the important issues covered by today's review, I thank Willie Rennie especially for his contribution and wish him a speedy recovery. We must also listen to the distant voices of those who wore the very first remembrance poppies, veterans, families and strangers alike. We owe it to them too, at the same time as supporting current veterans and their families to work to build and make a more peaceful world. Presiding Officer, I am pleased to be speaking in this debate today. I have spoken in a few such debates over the years and an issue that came up again and again was the lack of available data around veterans that would provide the information to ensure an evidence-based approach to policy-making in this area. I am pleased that good progress has been made. As the minister has said, we are now on the cusp of having a lot of really rich and useful information that we can use to better develop policy and understand how and where we can improve services to support veterans and their families. I think that that is really positive progress. This is good progress that I do hope leads to better informed policy and ultimately clearer and better outcomes for veterans and their families. I would also welcome the collaboration and co-ordination between the UK and devolved governments and indeed the many organisations that work daily to support and improve services for veterans and their families. There are excellent examples in our communities of organisations supporting veterans and, as such, we must continue to support those groups across Scotland to ensure that no veteran is left behind. I would also like to highlight the work of veterans and armed forces champions in local authorities. When I was a councillor in Fife, I saw first-hand the role that these champions played in ensuring that they joined up approaches within the councils and indeed being a strong voice within the authority raising the issues coming direct from local veterans groups and from individuals. The councillor that had the role back then in Fife, Charles Hathie, was himself a veteran and was passionate about the job. Since then I am aware that others have been doing a great job as well and have been in touch with me in my role when they have needed support. I am pleased that the Government continues to recognise the importance of this role and continues to work with local authorities to enhance and develop the role. I would however want to be candid when it comes to local government services and we should acknowledge that there are not enough houses for people to live in and council housing lists continue to grow at the rate they do, then veterans like hundreds of thousands on waiting lists will find it difficult to get housing if the housing doesn't exist. The same can be said for many local services. In the same vein, if people are in their homes going cold but not able to afford to switch the heating on, then they will suffer the same plight whether they are veterans or not. To be clear, veterans, particularly older veterans, are facing a really difficult time, as is the millions of their fellow citizens up and down the UK this winter. The main point that I want to make is that if our economy is tanking, if energy costs are out of control and if incomes cannot keep up with costs, then veterans will suffer and pay the price like everyone else who are on low incomes. I do welcome the work of those veteran organisations that are focused on doing their best to support people and maximise the assistance they can access, but the best support would be to build a fairer and more just economy that works in the interests of the many. For those who are transitioning from the armed forces, we must first say to veterans that they are an asset to Scotland's workplaces and communities, and we must ensure that we harness their potential and fully support them to transition smoothly into civilian life. The actions that are being taken on employment, education and skills are also very welcome, but I say to the minister who also has the brief for higher and further education that if our colleges are struggling, cancelling courses and paying off tutors, that will also impact on those transitioning to civilian to the city street. Just as it will impact on anyone wanting to improve their life chances and their opportunities, so we do need to address some of the urgent issues that are there just now, particularly in further education. Again, the point that I am making is veterans will not be immune from the wider policy issues that are of grave concern at this time, and our colleges being one of them. The lucky housing being another. The same applies to our NHS. Those who have sacrificed the most for our country deserve the best care possible. While there has been priority given to the health care of veterans, we cannot become complacent about the quality of these services and in particular mental health services, where there is a massive pressure on those services at this time. So in conclusion, Presiding Officer, if this was a report card, I believe that it would stay that what we are seeing is very good progress being made, but more needs to be done. I am honoured to contribute to today's important debate in support of the veterans and armed forces community, along with my colleagues, and I will be supporting today's Government motion. I consider myself lucky to have met a number of veterans who have served our country, as well as the dedicated third sector organisations who support them day in and day out. As an Indian woman, I was really honoured to be invited to the ceremonial brickling for Scotland's first British Indian Army memorial, which will mark the contribution for over 4 million South Asian soldiers who fought in both world wars. I would like to congratulate the organisation behind the memorial, colourful heritage. For years, colourful heritage has been committed to achieving recognition for these soldiers, as well as educating people on the role of the British Indian Army. Let me today in this chamber pay tribute to the British Indian Army, including Nick Gyann-Sing, a member of the 15th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the face of the enemy in Burma in 1945 and the many others like him. As well as a band of war heroes who served with the Indian Army and perished in the Scottish Highlands, who were buried at the cemetery in King Hussie, the Scottish Government has been very supportive of this project by colourful heritage, but I would welcome more information on how the Scottish Government will be helping to support this initiative and others like it moving forward. In my region, charities including the homeless veterans project and many more have stepped in to provide support for our armed forces community as a transition to civilian life. However, we know that funding and resources are scarce, making it challenging for them to deliver these services. This drive is to help the veterans community, must be matched within the Government, and I really hope that the Scottish Government will deliver on their responsibilities in this area. That includes areas such as housing. I recently submitted a written question on what assessment the Scottish Government has undertaken of the impact of the reported housing shortage and housing policies that are aimed at military service leavers and veterans, but the minister was unable to provide a detailed answer, so I hope that the minister is summing up that he will provide some kind of clarity and detail around that. We must remember that 821 veterans were forced to apply for homeless applications in Scotland last year, and over 100 veterans had to sleep rough. That is why the Scottish Conservatives want to introduce a distinct veterans help to buy scheme, which would give them more support when buying a home in Scotland. That is something that I hope the Scottish Government will support, but I am pleased to note that some progress has been made in other areas, particularly with the development of the general practice armed forces and veterans recognition scheme. In our recent response to me, the minister outlined that a full national roll-out of this scheme will go ahead towards the end of the year. Ahead of this roll-out, I hope to see further details on how the Government will promote the scheme to GPs and service users ahead of the full launch. While I am hoping that the scheme will be helpful for signposting sources of support, we need to see a more joined-up approach across devolved public bodies, including the NHS and the local government, to enhance the support that is available to veterans to transition into civilian life. Because progress on mental health service provisions and skills and Lenard currently not progressing fast enough, that is why we proposed an armed forces and veterans bill to create a new focus on supporting veterans to get access to education, a new home, a new career, healthcare, financial assistance and much more. In conclusion, I am honoured to have contributed to this important debate on supporting our veterans and forces community. As has been made clear throughout today's debate, the contribution that our servicemen and women bring to the country does not stop when they leave the armed forces, but continues and grows as they transition back into our communities. Our veterans and armed forces community are an asset to our society. For our tomorrow, they gave their today, and we must do everything in our power to ensure that they have access to the support that they need. Thank you. I call on Keith Brown, the final speaker in the open debate. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I start by agreeing with the first part of Pam Gozo's speech when she mentioned colourful heritage and the contribution very often not acknowledged of the British Indian Army at the time, especially the Second World War. I visited each one of the graves at King UC, plus there are two others at Donach, I think, and the makeshift musk and lair where over 300 soldiers were accommodated in that tiny little village in the Highlands during the Second World War. I am delighted to take part in the debate. I have done more or two of those debates in the past, and I have not really had the opportunity because of the role that I had at the time to say some more as many members have done in the past about the personal history. I mentioned this because at the last veterans debate that I spoke in as minister, it was actually one where you cannot easily get a deputy or somebody to stand in your place for that debate, and I could not therefore go to my uncle's funeral among Uncle Robert and Brora. It struck me at the time that he had served nine years in the Royal Navy and served many years after that in the British listening stations up the North East coast in Scotland, but also that each of his brothers and his sister had also served in the armed forces, usually in the Navy or in two brothers' cases during the National Service in the Army. My grandfather, who is on a war memorial in Pitlockry, served with the Black Watch in the First World War. The same is true for my mother's side of the family as well. She had a number of brothers, one of whom retired as a major from the army. He was then murdered in Pennycook when he was overseeing the transition of wages to pay the soldiers after he had retired, but he was helping out in that regard. Two other brothers who went to Queen Victoria School in Dumblay in my constituency, which was at that time, as it is now, for the offspring of members of the armed forces. It is just a point out that, of course, members of the armed forces and veterans are of us. They are part of the families in the wider society that we all inhabit. Just a couple of other very quick points. First of all, I am glad that the minister mentioned the medal replacement scheme. I think that it is useful if he can get as much publicity for that as possible. The Scottish Government cannot replace medals, of course, but what it can do is when the MOD disagrees to replace a medal, it can stand for the cost of replacing that medal if it is required to do so. I know that that has been very welcome. In relation to the physical and mental needs of veterans that has been mentioned, I can just mention rock to recovery, a small charity. Although many people, Alec Rowley and others, have called on additional support from the NHS, I would not want to see undervalued the support that is provided by people who themselves are veterans to other veterans. Rock to recovery is a peer-to-peer service and is very valuable for that reason. I encourage the Scottish Government to continue to engage with rock to recovery to see how it can help in relation to veterans needing that service. I also want to mention my own area to a wee county veteran who has done a fantastic job for veterans in Clotmanisha. In relation to housing, which Edward Mountain mentioned, when he left the forces in the Egor, he said £500 on a resettlement course. Things have got much better since then. I can tell him that I got neither £500 nor a resettlement course nor a pension when I left the armed forces. Things have improved a little bit in the meantime. In relation to Willie Rennie's points, I disagree with his point about how he would try to address the issue of education. Much of what the Scottish Government has to do is to respond to what the MOD does. He made a point about the fact that people can be shifted between different billets. More recently, five or six years ago, there was a situation in Scotland of a family who had been moved from Germany to Edinburgh to Belfast. Three different postings with their family in the space of 18 months. Public authorities are trying to address that kind of challenge. We do it very well in Scotland. In fact, there is a great deal that has been done in Scotland, which is worthy of some more comment than the Scottish Veterans Fund that we have heard mention—the census and the development near. The dedicated Minister for Veterans, which I think started under the former First Minister in 2008, reached a golden period when he had a minister in the cabinet. I think that the minister should use that as his gambit to try to get into the cabinet to say that he should have a ministerial level appointment in the cabinet, but it shows the attention that has been paid to that. It is a real success. I have also been aware of the way things have changed. I remember saying in 2011-12 that what we had to do was try to address disadvantage rather than provide advantage. It was quite a contentious thing to say at that time, but now it seems to be the language that everyone is using, and it is none the worse for that. I think that Scotland does do a great deal that is worthy of commendation. Of course, there will always be more to do. I should say in relation to Christine Grahame and Maggie Chapman that I am not a pacifist. I think that it is essential that we have armed forces and that they are well trained and well looked after. In relation to the debate and too many like it, people veer away by and large from any contention, any kind of political back and forth. I think that that patronises rather than promotes the interests of veterans. There are not people that have to be multicultural. They can understand political differences, and I do not think that we should shy away from that. In relation to some of the differences, I would say that Edward Mountain mentioned that he thought that the budget for the veterans fund was too small, and we should take it away from overseas trips. I do not know whether that would include a trip that I made, or two trips that I made to the Falklands on the Government's ticket. I would say that if we are going to be contentious, why not not have illegal wars and pay instead the money that is required for proper boots, proper helicopter support, and proper tanks for our forces? I think that you could avoid things like handing out P45s to service personnel on active service in Afghanistan. Think about what is really important to veterans in those circumstances. In relation to Megan Gallacher, I do not support her proposal. I do not think that we should marginalise what is an abominable thing to do to face a warmer model. We should take it away from the general remit of the law. The last thing that I will say on a note of consensus is that the point that Edward Mountain made about housing is really important. I think that he identified, which I have done in the past, where the MOD has the states in Scotland, which are no longer using cregy halls—hundreds of houses are literally on it, but there are other sites as well. If the Parliament could come together to get a spearhead—Edward Mountain will know the significance of that word—a spearhead, if we could get the MOD to convert that into housing available for veterans, it might require selling some off and bringing others up to standard, but it is perfectly possible that we could make a big difference to the housing situation for veterans if the Parliament was able to come together and do that. In conclusion, I would say that I am very grateful that the Parliament has once again recorded its support and the admiration for veterans because of the service that they have had and the contribution that they continue to make to society. Thank you and we move on to winding up speeches, and I call on Sarah Boyack. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Just how tight is the speaker's time today? Is that a generous six minutes? It is a very generous six minutes. Excellent. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I first of all refer members to my register of interests, my former work with SFHA? I do think that today's debate has been an important debate but a respectful one, and I think that the points that Keith Brown made about being overconsensual, I think that actually there was quite a few issues where members didn't agree entirely, and I think that part of the nature of consensus is actually one of respect for those who serve in our armed forces and for those who are veterans, so I do want to join colleagues in thanking those in our armed services for all that they do, and as several speakers have said today, it's not just people's time and service, but afterwards too, because many move on and use their skills in significant ways in our communities and also our economy, so I do think that we should celebrate that as well. I want to flag that, like others, I went to the excellent briefing last night with young people whose parents are or were in the armed services because it gave a really interesting perspective on their lives and what it's like to be in an armed services family. Potentially, the journeys that they have to make, the times that they move and their families have to respond to change, living in different places, different schools, and the challenges of retaining and developing your connections with friends and families. It came across very well, and as Claire Baker mentioned, the Ruby Boots project was actually quite inspiring. I think that one of the things, briefly, I'm very grateful for Sarah Boyack giving away, and on that point about young people, one of their calls is for the data that surrounds those young people, particularly their school and educational position, to be universal so that their new schools understand what they've done and what they haven't done and they don't have to revisit. Would you agree that that's something that we should urge everyone to come behind? I think that that is an excellent point, and it did come across at the event last night. Young people are actually very well organised, and one thing that struck me was that their access to data and digital connectivity is something that they are increasingly using, so it would be good to see schools match that approach. One of the things that's come across today a lot is that the transition from being in the armed services and returning to civilian life is not always easy nor straightforward and a lot more needs to be done, both to support our veterans and, as you've just commented, Mr Woodfield, our veterans' families. Those years in service can come at a personal cost in terms of people's health and wellbeing, so it's more important than ever that we see the collaborative partnerships that are referenced in the Scottish Government's motion today being put into place between the public sector, the private and third sectors and to ensure that the veterans and armed forces community gets the best possible support and access to services. Supporting health and wellbeing is absolutely essential, the transition to new lives needs housing in the right place and employment opportunities being available. Those were key issues where there was agreement right across the chamber today, which I think is important. There was also a lot of comments about the excellent work done by local organisations. I thought Paul Sweeney's points about Glasgow's helping heroes and the fantastic work that they do was particularly important, but right across the country you can see those organisations. As Ivan McKee mentioned, just across the road we have the Whiteford house, which is run by the Scottish Veterans Housing Association and is supported and provided homes for veterans for decades. There's also the work by Sight Scotland in my region, their new law and bowling team, which competed in the vision and prayerment bowling Scotland league, with matches taking place all over Scotland, and their newly created charity team took part in its first league match recently at the Jessfield bowling club in Portobello in Edinburgh. You might not think that that's important, but when you read some of the briefing by groups like Sight Scotland, the social and cultural connections for veterans with visits and opportunities for people to take up new life experiences and inclusive activities is absolutely critical. Their work to enable digital connectivity to access new skills or relearn vital life skills is absolutely crucial, particularly for those who have lost their sight through their service. One of the issues that came up several times was the important work of the veterans commissioner, and her contribution in health and wellbeing, employment and skills is welcome. I want to repeat the comments that have been made by others about the two areas where she felt more progress is urgently needed. To Paul Sweeney who commented, the slow progress in delivering mental health and wellbeing support is something that I hope the Scottish Government will pick up, because veterans may have experienced what for us would be unimaginable pressures and they need to be supported. Willie Rennie made some insightful comments about the importance of support, but one of the issues that I want to wind up on near the end of my comments is about the homelessness prevention pathway for veterans. It was produced last year, but, as the commissioner said, little has been achieved to date and progress at implementing this much-needed pathway is slow, with no clear milestones or timelines provided. I hope that that is something that has been raised by several colleagues across the chamber. Dedicated housing needs investment, and it is important—a brief comment, yes. I am grateful for giving away. I think that she noted from my opening comments that the housing minister, Paul McClennan, has committed to meeting with the commissioner to hear her views and to take those forward. I very much welcome that, but three of our colleagues totally in Edinburgh raised the issue of the need for affordable housing, so it has to be a now issue with actual investment. Moving forward, I think that we need to see effective underpinning of the armed forces covenant. In our 2021 manifesto, Scottish Labour called for statutory targets to implement the covenant and to support the recommendations of Poppy Scotland in their manifesto and the other veterans charities that have made lobbying really important. If Labour was elected next year, we would fully incorporate the armed forces covenant into law because we think that it is important in terms of respect moving forward. I ask one of my constituents what his recommendations would be. He first mentioned the covenant and said how important it was, but he then talked about recognising the importance of veterans going forward. Raising better awareness amongst business of the skills that ex-forces can bring is therefore important and likely good for the economy, he said. Service personnel are measured and trained for their courage, commitment, respect, discipline, integrity, loyalty and leadership, not to mention communication, positivity and flexibility. Who would not want more of that in their organisation? I think that his words are very well made and I hope that our businesses who are listening today will pick up on those fantastic veterans who have skills and talent that they can offer us. I am grateful for the opportunity today to thank all the 250,000 veterans across Scotland who have bravely and selflessly served our country. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for all they have done to protect us, to defend our United Kingdom and to serve the entire country whenever called upon. We also owe a huge thanks to their families who can see their own lives upturned through the service of their loved one, and I think that we have heard a lot of that in the contributions today. Since becoming an MSP in 2021, it has been a great privilege to meet with current members of the armed forces, veterans and their families on several occasions. I was delighted to get the opportunity to visit the Royal Navy's Recife dockyards to tour the HMS Prince of Wales and speak with sailors and marines about Scottish shipbuilding and the incredible work that they do to keep us safe. Earlier this year, I was blown away by the operations of the RAF at Lossymouth when I was given the chance to see their operations up close and hear about how they protect our skies and seas 24-7, 365 days a year. I have also been immensely proud to support Poppy Scotland appeals both here and in Ayrshire, and I would encourage anybody who can to continue giving their time and money to help that organisation to give veterans the help they deserve. I know that many MSPs across the chamber have felt similarly when visiting armed force bases and veterans charities. That was mentioned by Graham Day in his contribution, and he also had the privilege of paying his respects in Northern France to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Paul Sweeney also mentioned a number of bases. He is the privilege of visiting, and Pam Goswell also spoke about being invited to the ceremonial bricklaying for Scotland's first Indian Army memorial. As we all recognise, it is not enough for us as MSPs to merely thank veterans in their words. We must translate our words into action. We must give them every support we can as they transition into civilian life. I am pleased that we can all recognise across every party the huge importance and contributions of veterans in our society. That was a point that was made quite clear by Sarah Boyack in her closing up there. In their service and in everyday lives afterwards, they are integral parts of communities across Scotland. The Scottish Government's Veterans Strategy Action Plan is positive, as is the UK Government's, and it is fantastic to see both of Scotland's Governments working together on the delivery of these plans for the benefit of veterans across Scotland and the UK. Of course, we can also recognise that more needs to be done for veterans. Life is far from perfect for many of them in Scotland today. Last year alone, over 800 veterans made a homeless application and around 100 of those ended up sleeping rough. We can all, as one parliament, see that as unacceptable and commit to preventing that happening again. Willie Rennie said in his contribution that we need a pathway that is timely and effective and that we cannot be slow to take action. What more must be done for veterans? I want to thank the detailed and diligent work of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner, Susie Hamilton, who has produced very welcome and in-depth assessments of the Scottish Government's progress. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a recent combat stress event and I think that our knowledge, experience and passion are clear to see. As Edward Mountain mentioned in his contribution, I would like to thank the previous commissioners as well and thank them for their work. As the commissioner said, this year's report has shown some really encouraging progress, particularly in the area of health and wellbeing. As others have noted, the commissioner looked at the Government's 81 recommendations and found that 35 have already been achieved and a further 21 have been absorbed into subsequent recommendations. That is good news, especially the improvements at general practices that have helped veterans access the treatment that they need more quickly. As the commissioner noted, tackling the issues that those with polytrauma face has the potential to transform the lives of the most seriously injured veterans. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are still serious problems to overcome when it comes to homelessness prevention and mental health. It found, quote, progress and delivery has been slow and over the 2021 veterans mental health and wellbeing action plan. The commissioner raised concerns that veterans needs are not being met in this area and it must become more of a priority. Christine Grahame mentioned in her contribution about the two-week period that servicemen have to readjust after a tour before they go back home because of the experiences that they have had when they are away on tour. Similarly, the delivery of the veterans homelessness prevention pathway has not been successful to date. The commissioner noted, quote, that little has been achieved to date and progress in implementing this much-needed pathway is slow with no clear milestones or timelines provided. Megan Gallacher spoke of war memorials and how it was a focal point for us to remember. She also spoke of the 66 occasions where they have been damaged and she is right that this shouldn't be happening. It is a focal point not only for us but also for members of their families, so it is something that we need to take action on. Audrey Nicol spoke of education employment and the facilities that are in the north-east to help veterans in her area. It is something that we need to be more vocal on to ensure that everybody knows about the help that is out there for veterans just now. Claire Baker mentioned Ruby Boots, which helps children when their parents leave the forces. I think that quite a few of us were privileged to meet some of the children last night at the event in Parliament. Ivan McKee also mentioned the Scottish veterans residences with three in Scotland, one in his constituency and another in Edinburgh. That does not provide us housing but other various support. Again, that is more of the support that we need to make sure that everybody is aware of. Alex Rowley spoke of the previous lack of data and how we have made progress in that. We need to make sure that we use the data that we get to make sure that we are getting better outcomes for veterans. Keith Brown and his contribution mentioned the medal replacement scheme and to get as much publicity as we can. I am sure that, as MSPs, we can all publicise that in our social media to make sure that it gets the publicity that it deserves. On the two areas of mental health and homelessness, I urge the Government to make urgent progress for veterans. They must do so because people affected by those issues are the most vulnerable and often the ones most in need of help. As it stands, they are sadly not receiving the help that they deserve. If the Government's actions are measured by what it does for the most in need, then in that area, they have a long way to go. I welcome the nature of the debate today and we are happy to support the Government's motion, but I must press them to deliver their veterans strategy in full by meeting the expectations of the veterans mental health and wellbeing action plan and veterans homelessness prevention pathway. I call on Graeme Dey to wind up the debate. I have a very generous 10-minutes minister. I too can read the clock. I want to thank members for their contribution today. There were some really valuable points raised and, in closing, I am going to try and prioritise responding to some of the key ones and the time that I have available. On Christine Grahame and Claire Baker's point about support for those veterans engaged in the justice system but not actually in prison, where there is support provided, I am entirely sure of the scale of the issue, but it is something that is under the radar of the justice secretary and myself. At present, as we have heard, there is no explicit pre-set question asking people being considered by the court for community sentences or serving sentences if they actually serve in their armed forces. As we know from those who are in prison, very often the veterans are too ashamed to reveal their history after falling foul of the law, so even if there is a question, they may not answer it. On what could be done if we did have such information, I would hope that the new veterans mental health and wellbeing pathway might provide a route for assisting this cohort, but I will feed the concerns that Claire Baker and Christine Grahame have raised into the associated workstreams, so those who are taking forward delivery are alive to capturing such individuals. Edward Mountain made a number of excellent points, though Maggie Chapman subsequently. I appreciate the minister's comments on the data issues that are raised, but I did read the issue of blue badges. I appreciate that the minister is not the sole minister who is involved here at Social Security and Transport, but if he could make a commitment, he might go away and look at it. I know that he corresponds with my constituent, but he recognises that there is a difference between the threshold in England and Scotland. I will commit to looking at that. Edward Mountain made a number of excellent points, although Maggie Chapman subsequently took him to task for his misplaced comment regarding his anticipation of the Green Party's participation in the debate. I hope that he is suitably chastised. Among other things, he focused on resettlement, something that Ivan McKee picked up on, too. One aspect that Edward Mountain missed out on, of course, was that of early service leavers. We tend and understand a way so to focus in this space on families, and I absolutely understand that. However, some of those who are most challenged in challenging cohort and resettlement are often those who are single. Only a limited period of service behind them is often recruited from difficult backgrounds and from areas that they do not want to return to. I do not pretend to have the answer on this point, but it requires a degree of focus. I wish Willie Rennie well on his recovery from Covid, but on his point, we service people premium. I know that he has a strong constituency interest in that. I am still not persuaded of the need for that. Willie Rennie noted that there are two and a half thousand young people in Scotland within service families, but while recognising the potential impact of deployment or upheaval from rebasing, I want to see evidence of how many of those young people are impacted in a way that they would not be able to secure appropriate support for from the generally available services within school, particularly when that school has a strong understanding of the needs of that cohort. However, if, through the national education officer, evidence—and I stress evidence—emerges of a proven detriment being experienced, then we would look with partners at how that might be addressed. We have a track record in responding to evidence issues in the education space, because on the back of responses that are received from armed forces families and representative groups, we made changes to ensure that FE funding is available for all service children based in Scotland, and that applies to spouses and partners, too. Paul Sweeney, among other things, noted the issue of accessible childcare close to basis. As he knows, Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer 1140 hours a year of funded ELC to all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, and as we announced in PFC, we will expand access to funded childcare for 13,000 more children and families by the end of this Parliament. However, we are alive to the issues that are facing serving families following the introduction of wraparound 20 hours a week childcare funded by the MOD for four to 11-year-olds. In fact, I had discussed this quite recently with Rich Knighton, the head of the air service, and I have agreed to visit Lossymouth with him in due course to hear more about the challenges being encountered. Keith Brown made a valid point on this, around where MOD policy, often developed with no consultation with devolved Governments, can create a need locally with no regard for how that is met. Finally, the Gordon Highlanders Museum got an honourable mention from Jackie Dunbar and Audrey Nicol and rightly so. Having said that, I better declare an interest as my grandfather's medals are on display there. I want to move towards the conclusion of this debate. I want to focus on giving a little bit more of a flavour of some of our priorities over the next year. As I said in my opening remarks, examining and acting upon veteran's data is going to be a major priority for us throughout the next 12 months and beyond. I hope that next year I will be able to return to the chamber and share some insights from the census and the various other surveys that contain veterans-related questions. We have made progress up until now in ensuring that we can get access to diverse sets of data from a number of different sources, but it is now even more important to do something with it. As Alex Rowley highlighted, access to rich and varied data sets will allow us to determine the issues that matter most to veterans and their families and where improvements to support or service delivery need to be made. That, in turn, will better inform where we should be focusing our efforts. I am hopeful that good quality evidence will also help us to continue to change the narrative on veterans and further improve perceptions around some of the issues that can perhaps sometimes be exaggerated, sensationalised or misunderstood. I spoke about this earlier, but I highlight again that the vast majority of veterans and their families reintegrate back into civilian society perfectly well and go on to weed their lives without significant issues. We should collectively focus more of our attention on the positive contributions that they make to society rather than on the often inaccurate, negative perceptions. For example, in the UK Government's recent study of perceptions of UK armed forces' veterans, there was a feeling that ex-service personnel may struggle to reintegrate into civilian society. Respondents particularly associate veterans with issues such as homelessness. I do not shy away from the fact that there is an issue. However, we know from existing data that veterans are no more likely to be homeless in the general population. Noting the positive contributions of the armed forces' weavers does not represent any attempt to deflect from our responsibility or collective responsibility to those who have been left with legacy challenges from their service. Rather, it seeks to address the frustration that many in the cohort feel about how they are characterised, particularly in the media. I spoke earlier about the Scottish Veterans Commissioner's annual progress report, but this year we welcomed her new three-year strategic plan. This year, Susie Hamilton describes what she intends to focus on during her tenure as commissioner. She highlights three specific areas, namely community and relationships, with a particular focus on women and LGBT veterans, veterans and the law. Among other things, whether the right support is in place for veterans in the criminal justice system, which perhaps goes back to Claire Baker and Christine Grahame's point, and finance and debt, looking at the advice, the guidance and support provided to veterans as they return to civilian life. I was really pleased that she aligned her activity to the themes of the veterans' strategy, and the elements of her work will also complement Lord Etherton's independent review. I look forward to engaging in and supporting fully her work, and we stand ready to respond as necessary. Finally, on the subject of the veterans' strategy, we continue to be guided by our strategy action plan and the commitments contained within it, some of which I have been pleased to provide an update on. I recognise in my opening comments that we have received criticism for a couple of aspects of progress, and we are working towards delivering on that. Alex Rowley was right when he said that, while the report card would acknowledge very good progress, it was also true to say that more needs to be done. I fully accept that. However, as ever, there is more to do, and we are still working on the elements of our plan that will continue to evolve, mature and respond to the needs of our veterans and their families, particularly in light of the raft of data coming our way. It may be that we have to change direction in certain respects, depending on what the evidence tells us. I will not shy away from that and stick unnecessarily to a particular approach if it is no longer fit for purpose. I know that my ministerial colleagues across Government will share that view. We have to be ready to adapt flexibly to the needs of our veterans and the entire armed forces community. Of course, any such decisions that I say when changing direction in our approach would be taken in conjunction with the relevant ministerial colleagues across Government, because that is across Government responsibility. Finally, it is vital and important that the chamber continues to have the opportunity to scrutinise our performance and how we are delivering as a Government for our veterans, their families and the entire armed forces community in Scotland. However, I recognise that there are limits to the time that the bureau can or will afford us for such purposes. That is why, as Martin Quitefield alluded to earlier, I have committed to regular veterans' drop-in sessions for members, myself and officials, in order that they can raise any issues with us between debates or statements in the chamber and also offer thoughts on how we might improve our offering to veterans, serving personnel and their family. Today has once again served to remind us that this is a subject that we can make common cause on right across this chamber. That concludes the debate on support for the veterans and the armed forces community. It is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of parliamentary bureau motion 10767 on substitution on committees. I ask Gillian Mackay on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move the motion. The question on the motion will be put at decision time. I am minded to accept a motion without notice, under rule 11.2.4, of standing orders that decision time be brought forward to now. I invite Martin Whitefield to move the motion. The question is that decision time be brought forward to now. Are we all agreed? We are. There are two questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first is that motion 10743 in the name of Graham Day on support for the veterans and armed forces community be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. And the final question is that motion 10767 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau on substitution on committees be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed.