Support for the Veterans and Armed Forces Community 2022

Cross-Cutting Factors

Collaboration and Co-ordination

Cross-Government Working

The Scottish Government continues to be an active member of the Armed Forces Covenant’s governance structure and has been engaged with the MOD and others this year in the structure’s ongoing review. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans is a full member of the Ministerial Covenant and Veterans Board which last met in late 2021. Additionally, the Scottish Government contributes to the MOD’s Covenant Annual Report and again provided a detailed contribution for the upcoming 2022 report.

Veterans and Armed Forces Champions

We continue to engage with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Champions primarily through the Veterans Employability Strategic Group. In addition, Social Security Scotland are collaborating with the Champions to promote the devolved benefits being delivered by Social Security Scotland with a specific focus on Adult Disability Payment.

Unforgotten Forces Consortium

The Scottish Government continues to fund the Unforgotten Forces Consortium, a partnership of 16 civilian and ex-service charitable organisations with the purpose of delivering a wide array of services to Veterans in Scotland. The Scottish Government has contributed £250,000 per year from 2020-21 until 2022-23 (for a total of £750,000) to support their work in improving the health, wellbeing and quality of life for older Veterans in Scotland.

In May 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans spoke at the Spring Gathering of the consortium to thank them for their hard work and to give an overview of the Scottish Government’s priorities for older veterans.

Scottish Veterans Fund

The 2022-23 funding round saw the Scottish Veterans Fund grant pot increase to £500,000 per annum. The priorities this year were projects offering support to Early Service Leavers and projects encouraging collaborative working in the Veterans community. Six of the projects funded this year fell into one of these categories. Of the £500,000 total funding available for 22-23, £136,070 was set aside to continue funding for projects which had been approved for multi-year funding in previous years; leaving £363,930 available for new bids. In total, 14 new projects received funding allowing a range of organisations to be supported including employment support from Walking with the Wounded and outdoor counselling from the Venture Trust. Support for small local projects includes funding for FirstLight trust to establish a new café hub for veterans and their families in Falkirk and funding for Network of Wellbeing to create a programme of away days for veterans in and around the Huntly area to help combat social isolation.

Relationships with the Services and Families Federations

The Scottish Government has an excellent relationship with the Armed Forces and Service Families Federations in Scotland. We continue to hold regular discussions with the three Services to ensure a joined-up approach to supporting the Services in Scotland at both Official and Ministerial level. The Scottish Government will be represented at the Firm Base Conference at the end of November

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans met with the three Families Federations late last year, which has led to joined-up working on topics such as childcare and family law.

Scottish Veterans Commissioner

The Scottish Government continues to fund the Scottish Veterans Commissioner role and team. During 2022 a new Commissioner was recruited with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans appointing Susie Hamilton, who started in August. The Scottish Government continues to prioritise the delivery of the outstanding Commissioner recommendations, including those made by the previous Commissioner in his series of Transition-focussed papers and we again contributed to and welcomed the Commissioner’s 2022 Progress Report.

Armed Forces Covenant Legislation

MOD is introducing, through secondary legislation, statutory guidance and a definition of ‘relevant family members’ (RFM) for the purposes of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty. MOD consulted on the draft guidance and RFM definition with the Scottish Government, as well as other Scottish stakeholders. We and stakeholders gave substantial comments on the draft guidance which were primarily to ensure the guidance is clear and relevant to public bodies in Scotland and that it includes language and descriptions which will be familiar to the Scottish public bodies within scope. A draft Statutory Instrument has now been laid in UK Parliament which if approved will bring the Duty into force and guidance into effect.

Supporting the delivery of cross-UK Veterans Strategy commitments

The Scottish Government has an excellent working relationship with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs which has responsibility for the UK Government’s Veterans Strategy Action Plan. We continue to work closely with them through fora such as the Devolved Administrations Working Group and Data Working Group. In addition, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans met with Fighting with Pride this year to discuss the UK Government’s review into the impact of the pre-2000 ban on homosexual personnel in the military. The Scottish Government promoted this review through a series of communications and is fully supportive of its aims.

Data

Scotland’s Census

Scotland’s 2022 Census included for the first time a question on former Service in the Armed Forces. Scottish Government are now discussing with National Records of Scotland (NRS) and stakeholders the outputs required from this question. Through attendance at the cross-government Data Working Group, and engagement with counterparts in Office for National Statistics and Office for Veterans’ Affairs, we will also seek to learn from the analysis and outputs delivered for the England and Wales 2021 Census. Analysis from the Census will help to support a better understanding of the veterans community in Scotland, in turn informing policy development and targeted support.

Scottish Household Surveys

The three Scottish Government major household surveys: Scottish Household Survey (SHS); Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS); and the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) have included the veterans Census question in their current sweeps. Together, the surveys form the Scottish Surveys Core Questions. Results from the three surveys on the core/common questions are pooled together each year to offer a larger sample size, enabling more precise and detailed breakdowns of results.

We are now considering analysis proposals from the surveys and their findings will be available at varying points during mid-to late-2023, with the pooled analysis to follow thereafter. Having a question in each of these national surveys will improve 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 respondents who consent to be included in future research, giving us the option to utilise this sample to carry out more in-depth research in future with respondents who are veterans.

Additional Data Sources

The Scottish Government has been working with external stakeholders to better understand the veterans-related data being collected by them and how this data could be used to support the delivery of the Veterans Strategy and help to identify evidence gaps. This exercise will contribute towards an overview of veterans data collections, supporting the co-ordination of data across the community.

The Scottish Government is working with colleagues in ONS, OVA and the devolved administrations to develop the first UK-wide Veterans’ Survey. The online survey will collect 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 is due to be launched in late autumn 2022 and will be conducted by ONS in collaboration with OVA. Findings are expected by summer 2023.

We continue to be a part of the cross-UK Veterans and Covenant Data Working Group, engaging with veterans data champions in UK Government departments and the other devolved administrations.

This year the Scottish Government has also added a field on veteran status as part of the employee data voluntarily provided by staff. This is helping us to monitor the progress of activities aimed at increasing the number of veterans employed by the Scottish Government.

Perception and Recognition

Veterans ID Cards

The UK Government plans to undertake a scoping study for provision of digital verification of veteran status and during 2022 the Scottish Government supported and contributed to the project’s Discovery Phase. We will continue to support the work as it progresses.

Promoting Veterans as Assets

The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government committed to securing improved opportunities for veterans, ensuring that those who have risked their lives in the service of the nation can access good jobs once their time in the military is over. This includes increased opportunities for veterans to work for the Scottish Government and a public awareness campaign targeting employers and the business community to help increase employment opportunities for veterans.

Veterans’ Contribution

The Scottish Government worked with Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland to fund the delivery of a national event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War in June 2022. We continue to work with them and other key stakeholders to support a wide range of commemorative events.