Chamber and committees

We continue to support Housing Options Scotland to provide its Military Matters project. This service focuses on housing issues affecting people serving in the Armed Forces in Scotland; all UK Service personnel transitioning into civilian life in Scotland, and veterans – helping them to find the right home in the right place.

We have also published a housing guide which provides information about housing in Scotland and contacts of organisations who may be able to help Armed Forces and ex-service personnel obtain housing suitable for their needs. The guide also directs veterans to the Veterans Gateway which provides information and support to veterans and their families.

The Scottish Government provided £3,000 in 2020-21 to Legion Scotland to deliver Befriending and Mental Health First Aid training to individuals from the veterans community, including breakfast club volunteers. These sessions were initially delayed due to the pandemic. However, Legion Scotland successfully delivered the Mental Health First Aid training in March 2022. The planned Befriending courses were cancelled due to lockdown and the funding initially allocated was refunded to Legion Scotland and re-purposed to support the delivery of the MHFA training. In total, 28 people attended the courses including several admin staff from multiple breakfast clubs.

We have also encouraged veterans to self-declare through a number of data collection activities. Scotland's Census 2022 included for the first time a question on previous service in the UK Armed Forces. Census data will help to support a better understanding of the veterans community in Scotland including numbers, location, employment status, housing and other needs such as healthcare and education. Analysis of the Census outputs, expected in 2024, will help to inform policy development and targeted support.

We also identified opportunities for more regular data collection on veterans by adding the same Census question to our three major household surveys: Scottish Household Survey, Scottish Health Survey and Scottish Crime and Justice Survey. This will improve considerably our understanding of the profile, circumstances and needs of veterans in Scotland, which in turn will help inform policy and services. Each of the surveys also collate re-contact samples, consisting of those who consent to being included in future research. This will give us the option to utilise this sample to carry out more in-depth research with respondents who identify as veterans.

Finally, the Scottish Government has supported work being done at a UK Government level to undertake a scoping study for provision of digital verification of veteran status and to which during 2022 we supported and contributed to the project’s Discovery Phase. We will continue to support the work as it progresses which will make it easier for all veterans to identify as such when accessing services and support. Finally, we have worked with colleagues in the Office for National Statistics, the Office for Veterans' Affairs and the devolved administrations to develop the first UK-wide Veterans’ Survey. The online survey is collecting information from veterans of the UK Armed Forces to help us understand current access to and perception of services in addition to veterans’ experiences and circumstances. The survey launched on 10 November 2022 and findings are expected by summer 2023.

It should, of course, be noted that veterans reserve the right not to declare their veteran status.

It should be noted that Transition is a Reserved matter. We hold regular discussions with Veterans UK and the Ministry of Defence to ensure there is consistency in the messaging provided to veterans and people leaving the Armed Forces.

Furthermore, as part of our stakeholder communications plan, we ensure that third party organisations, including those that support veterans, understand the overlaps and are in a position to adequately advise and assist veterans during their interactions with Social Security Scotland or the UK Government agencies administering reserved benefits.

The Scottish Government has designed the application guidance for Scottish Government benefits to provide comprehensive information on entitlement. Similarly, signposting is included to refer clients to the relevant agencies for reserved benefits where appropriate. Adult Disability Payment launched in August last year. The application form asks clients about their possible entitlement to Armed Forces Independence Payment, War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement and War Pension Constant Attendance Allowance. Where appropriate, clients are then directed to Veterans UK for further advice. We have also worked with Veterans UK to develop an information sharing process between the organisation and Social Security Scotland. This is intended to ensure that veterans can efficiently access the support to which they are entitled.

The Scottish Government continues to support the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership’s (SCQFP) veterans qualifications and skills mapping tool, which went live in February 2022. The Scottish Government provided £13,500 of funding in 2022-23, and £35,000 in 2021-22, to support the ongoing development of the tool.

This tool is particularly important in Scotland as Armed Forces qualifications are routinely only accredited to the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will also launch this year a campaign working with the business community to help employers understand the benefits that veterans bring to the workforce, to help increase employment opportunities for veterans.

The Scottish Government has been pursuing a number of analytical projects in relation to veterans within the justice system and we will continue to consider how evidence on this cohort can be improved going forward.

We have also identified sources of regular data collection where a marker can be added to improve the evidence we hold on veterans. For example, we have included the question on former service in the UK Armed Forces from Scotland’s 2022 Census into the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), the Scottish Health Survey and the Scottish Household Survey. The SCJS asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime, in addition to a range of issues related to crime, policing and the justice system. The first results are expected in mid-late 2023.

We have also improved the utility of the Official Statistics on Scotland’s prison population, through introducing an interactive analysis tool in 2022 which provides a number of options for analysis of prisoner characteristics – including on a veteran marker (derived from prisoners self-declaring on arrival). Furthermore, we have utilised the findings from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Prisoner Survey for self-declared veterans, which includes questions on views and experiences of prison, services and support and are engaging with SPS about their ongoing redevelopment of the prisoner survey.

We have worked with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), and the other devolved administrations to develop and promote the first UK-wide Veterans’ Survey. This online survey is collecting information from veterans of the UK Armed Forces to help us understand their experiences and circumstances, including questions on interactions with the justice system and awareness and use of support services. It is also being made available to all veterans in prison to ensure the views and experiences of this cohort are captured. The first findings are expected by summer 2023.

Finally, we remain in contact with stakeholders, including the SPS, academics, the third sector and colleagues in England and Wales (such as Ministry of Justice, Office for Veterans Affairs, Ministry of Defence) to keep abreast of research developments and emerging evidence on veterans and the justice system.

Extensive work has taken place to develop projections for the health and social care workforce, including engagement with stakeholders to understand different user needs, and actively including these in the specification for the workforce projections.

This piece of work has and will take into account where appropriate the (a) three year workforce plans and (b) the Medium term financial framework as the work develops.

We aim to set out high level conclusions from projections in the coming months. Clearly, these projections are iterative and will respond to and change depending on emerging evidence and data including the impacts of AI on demand and capacity in the workforce.

I refer the member to the Scottish Government’s publications webpage. You can find the clinical leadership guidance here: Cancer workforce: clinical leadership guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This has been cascaded across all regional cancer networks and amongst the Cancer Managers. In addition, presentations on clinical leadership have occurred across the regional cancer network steering groups.

I refer the member to the answers to question S6W-13542 on 20 January 2023 and S6W-13509 on 24 January 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As outlined in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, we have committed to funding up to £10 million on a phased approach which will support increased regional working, workforce recruitment and maximise capacity across the existing workforce through initiatives like non-medical prescribing and treatment closer to home. Over 2022, we have provided £1.5 million across Scotland, and the National Oncology Taskforce will shortly be considering recommendations to support sustainability of SACT services. As agreed with the regional cancer networks and Health Boards, these funds are being used to support SACT services.

The National Oncology Taskforce will shortly be considering recommendations to support sustainability of SACT services.