Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into criminal justice, what discussions it has had with the Scottish (a) Courts and Tribunals Service and (b) Prisons Service to embed the covenant throughout its services.
We welcome the UK Government’s announcement to expand the Armed Forces Covenant into further areas of Government activity including criminal justice. We note it is planned by the UK Government to provide for the necessary legislative detail for this approach in their next Armed Forces Bill in 2026. This Bill is not yet published and we will consider carefully the full details once they are available. This further detail will help inform engagement with justice partners including Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Prison Service.
We have already engaged with criminal justice agencies on how best to meet the need of veterans within custody following the ‘Veterans and Law’ report, which was published in October 2024. This included recommendations relating to identifying and supporting veterans as they move through the criminal justice system, with a coordinated, easy to access approach to support them alongside third sector organisations to help prevent offending and support rehabilitation.
We remain committed to working with criminal justice partners to further explore opportunities to help support veterans in the future, including as part of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant.