Chamber and committees

In relation to veterans healthcare, the Scottish Government has developed a scheme to help General Practices to identify and recognise the circumstances of veterans and their families . This is currently in the pilot phase of the programme.

In addition, the application form for Adult Disability Payment 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 are also engaging with Scotland’s Housing Network’s Local Housing Strategy Group to encourage local authorities to identify the housing needs of the veterans and Armed Forces community. This will include local authorities sharing examples of best practice.

Finally, during 2022, the Scottish Government supported the UK Government work to undertake a scoping study for provision of digital verification of veteran status 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.

The ‘Welcome to Scotland’ guide was first introduced in 2018 to provide practical information to Service personnel and their families who are moving to or already living in Scotland, on topics such as housing, education, healthcare and employment. It is not specifically targeted at veterans or their families but it is promoted to the veterans community through the Veterans Scotland newsletter.

The guide is refreshed annually and we work with the military in Scotland, the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces Families Federations to develop and promote its use.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Scottish Prison Service and last year attended the Veterans in Custody Support Officer (VICSO) gathering at HMP Castle Huntly to discuss how we can better support their work, including future attendance at a Breakfast Club event. Officials will again attend a VICSO gathering in February. Furthermore, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey now includes a question on former Service in the Armed Forces. We are considering analysis proposals from this survey and findings will be available at varying points during mid-to late-2023. Having a veterans question in this national survey will improve our understanding of the profile, circumstances and needs of veterans in Scotland which in turn will help inform policy and services.

We also support Police Scotland’s pledges under the Armed Forces Covenant to support the Armed Forces and veterans community, including pledges to review and refresh the Veterans Champion role across local policing divisions and to introduce Veterans Champions within its custody and criminal justice environment.

We support veterans across our housing legislation. We published Social Housing Allocations in Scotland – A Practice Guide in 2019, to ensure that social landlords have an allocation policy that complies with all relevant legislation and statutory guidance. The guide provides clarity for social landlords about giving priority to Service leavers. The guidance also reinforces the need for social landlords to have clear information and housing options in place for all applicants, including veterans.

We amended legislation so that, from 1 July 2019, where the landlord is a charity providing accommodation to veterans, a private residential tenancy agreement will not apply. This will ensure that veterans specific accommodation in the private rented sector can continue to be used, ensuring that a veteran may be offered temporary accommodation for a period of rehabilitation and training, or permanent accommodation in line with the organisation’s charitable purpose and the needs of the veterans.

There is a statutory requirement on local authorities to produce a Local Housing Strategy that sets out its strategy, priorities and plans for the delivery of housing and related service. In September 2019 we published refreshed Local Housing Strategy guidance which encourages Local Authorities to fully consider the housing requirements of the Armed Forces community. The guidance has also been strengthened to encourage appropriate engagement with relevant organisations, such as Veterans Scotland, to better understand the needs of the Armed Forces community when developing Local Housing Strategies.

Scotland has some of the strongest homelessness legislation in the world and all local authorities have a legal duty to provide support to anyone at risk of homelessness, including veterans. We are also proposing new homelessness prevention duties, to be included in a forthcoming Housing Bill. These will include new duties on public bodies to ‘ask and act’ about housing situations and a change to existing legislation to allow local authorities to act at an earlier stage to prevent homelessness. Our approach is based around the principles of shared public responsibility, earlier intervention across systems and more choice and control for people over their housing options, which will include the veterans population

We are also taking action to make improvements across the rented sector that will progress the right to an adequate home and deliver our vision for Housing to 2040.

The net zero skills gap and sector analysis research is being undertaken in relation to the Carbon Neutral Islands Project. This work is in its early stages and the contract of £80,000 was awarded to Aquetera Ltd.

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.

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 reviewed the Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS), Health Protection (HP) and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Workforce in 2022, as part of the work formulating evidence towards the recently published ‘Infection Prevention Workforce: Strategic Plan 2022-2024’. The plan is about building capacity and capability of AMS, HP (with relevance to IPC) and IPC workforce in all health and care settings, to enable recovery and development. It reflects on the need for planning post pandemic across all health and care, and as part of the wider system infection management needs. Following a situational analysis, recommendations in the plan include:

• identifying the current specialist workforce across health and care to assess and address demands (current and future) and potential service gaps, to allow for succession planning and sustainability.
• reviewing and addressing current IPC capability within the AMS and HP Workforce.
• reviewing current educational and career pathways and identify key priorities in order to meet future and evolving needs to support service delivery.
• progressing the work for a national surveillance eSystem for IPC within secondary care, with the support of local and national stakeholders.
• identifying the requirements for new/emerging local/national specialist roles, which will support phased implementation of a sustainable workforce.
• that each Board should consider whether services should be led by a clinical leader with a focus on AMR, HAI and IPC and with accountability to the executive team within a board, or partnership, to ensure safe and effective clinical service delivery.

Veterans’ specific welfare support is supported by UK Government policy and delivered by Veterans UK and the Veterans Welfare Service (VWS) , part of Ministry of Defence (MOD). The UK-wide service works with local authorities, voluntary organisations, service charities and the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees .

Within devolved areas of responsibility including provision of welfare advice and delivery of the Scottish Government benefits, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring access to benefits and advice to support veterans and other seldom heard groups. The Scottish Government’s Benefit Take-up Stakeholder Reference Group works with a range of specific seldom-heard groups, including veterans’ groups, to better understand and address non-take-up among particular populations and to maximise incomes. Our Benefit Take-up Strategy outlines our approach to inclusive communications and marketing campaigns. Our Strategy prioritises a person-centred approach and we are committed to inclusive communication standards and supporting seldom-heard groups, whose needs are often complex and require bespoke forms of engagement. Our communications and marketing campaigns are developed in a mindful way which aims to reach as many people as possible and considers those who may not access the most common channels of communication or those who have particular communication requirements.

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. Clients may be 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.

Transition is reserved to the UK Government, and there is no funding provided to the Scottish Government to undertake transition related activities. However the Scottish Government has designed the application guidance for devolved 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.

Furthermore, as part of our Social Security Scotland 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. 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.