Chamber and committees

I am delighted to open the debate on employment support for veterans and their families—particularly because, in the past hour or so, I had the opportunity to meet members of my old unit, 45 Commando, who came to Parliament at the request of Graeme Dey. I heard their concerns and questions about the role of the Scottish Government in the matter.

Members will know that the Scottish Government remains committed to improving support for our veterans and their families and, crucially, to ensuring that they face no disadvantage as a result of their service. We also aim to ensure that Scotland is their destination of choice following that service.

We take a whole-of-Government approach to supporting our veterans and armed forces communities across a number of policy areas including health, housing, employability and skills. We work together closely to improve and refine the support that is on offer to veterans and their families. I welcome the opportunity to lead the debate and to provide members with details of the work that is being undertaken to support veterans and their families—particularly in relation to their employment and skills.

Veterans and their families make a huge contribution to our local communities and to society, including through the vital experience and skills that they bring to the workforce. We want to maximise opportunities for them to do just that, as well as trying to address barriers that prevent them from fulfilling their potential.

As members including Edward Mountain will know, in the past, the families of members of the armed forces have not really been at the forefront of thinking among the armed forces community, but they are crucial to the good morale of those who serve in the forces. Why should they suffer in terms of employment prospects because a member of their family—usually a spouse—is a member of the armed forces?

I will mention some of the employability services that benefit our veterans and their families. For our part, we remain committed to working with stakeholders, communities and service users to design and deliver an employability system that is person centred and treats people with fairness, dignity and respect. With regard to the group that I have just mentioned—the families of armed forces members—it is crucial that the system acknowledges their experience.

It is disturbing to think that, in many recent years, nurses, teachers and, potentially, doctors have not been properly used or given proper opportunities to benefit Scotland and themselves. We should ensure that we address that.

Yes.

I move,

That the Parliament acknowledges the importance of Scotland’s veterans and Armed Forces community and greatly values the significant contribution that it continues to make to Scotland; recognises the challenges that some veterans can face when transitioning out of the military, particularly in relation to employment; notes the work of the Scottish Government to address these issues and improve the employment prospects of veterans and their families; understands that poor mental and physical health may exacerbate barriers to employment for some veterans, and agrees that the Scottish Government should continue to work in partnership across the Scottish public, private and charitable sectors, and with other devolved administrations and the UK Government, to ensure that the veterans and Armed Forces community receives the best possible support and access to employability, healthcare and other services across Scotland.

Mr Bibby used the word “duty”. For the Scottish Government, that is a largely moral duty, although we have some degree of legal duty in relation to the covenant. If Mr Bibby thinks that we have a legal or statutory duty, is he willing to join Edward Mountain and me in saying to the UK Government that we need the consequential funding to provide further services for veterans?

I will just finish this point.

The Conservatives want to introduce a bill, which I will be happy to consider; I am happy to look at any proposals that the Labour Party has in relation to the matter as well. However, it is not yet clear to me exactly what is intended. How does Labour intend to go beyond the covenant provisions, which are enshrined in law only in as much as statutory services have to take into account the interests of veterans?

We can perhaps find out what is proposed from Paul Sweeney.

Will Jamie Greene take an intervention?

The Government believes that reform of the criminal law on misogyny can help to encourage men to change their behaviour by sending a clear message about what is criminally unacceptable behaviour. Our consultation is seeking views on new laws that would specifically criminalise misogynistic harassment and the sending of threatening or abusive messages about rape, sexual assault or disfigurement to women and girls.

However, as I made clear during the recent debate on misogyny, new criminal law will not achieve cultural change on its own, so we will continue to focus on tackling wider gender inequality, and we will take action in schools to address gender-based violence and sexual harassment.

I agree with Jim Fairlie about the extent to which men can be ignorant of the ways in which, from a very early age, young women and girls have to adapt their behaviour because of the behaviour of men. It is right to highlight that so that men are more aware of it.

It is very important that we consider best practice from around the world. We should learn from what other countries have done to address misogynistic behaviour and to change deeply ingrained cultural attitudes. That can be done through changes to the law and by taking other measures to achieve lasting cultural change. If a misogyny bill is the result of that, it is likely that that bill will be world leading. For that reason, I hope that we will get support for the bill from across the chamber.

I agree that sharing intimate images of others without their consent is a serious crime. There was an excellent programme on television this week about a very courageous young woman who took such a case to court very successfully. Of course, Katy Clark also raised the issue a short time ago.

The Parliament legislated to make it a specific criminal offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. The offence is often committed online and, as I said, we have been working hard to push the UK Government to strengthen its Online Safety Bill to help to tackle this kind of activity. Our delivering equally safe fund provides £110,822 to the South West Grid for Learning Trust to help to support its revenge porn helpline and to further its work to get illegal intimate images removed from the internet. That funding demonstrates the Scottish Government’s commitment to challenging all forms of violence against women and girls.

Policing is and will continue to be a priority for the Scottish Government. Scotland has a higher number of officers than at any time during the previous Administration, and more officers per head of population than England and Wales, with 30 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland, in comparison with 24 officers per 10,000 population in England and Wales.

North-east divisions have a core complement of officers, who might be supported by specialist expertise and resources at a regional and national level should operational demand increase. Of course, the recruitment and deployment of resources are matters for the chief constable.