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New forum for Scottish war heroes
24/09/2008
The Scottish Government is exploring options for creating an Armed Forces and Veterans Forum.
The group will be chaired by the Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell and will provide a more direct link between Government and key players in the armed forces and veterans communities.
Responding to a members business debate on Support for Veterans in Scotland, Mr Maxwell said that the country owes a debt of gratitude to both its current service personnel and ex-servicemen and women.
He also said that the Scottish Government is committed to doing all that it can to improve the quality of life for current members of the armed forces, their families and veterans.
Mr Maxwell and the Minister for Parliamentary Business, Bruce Crawford, met with the three heads of the Armed Forces in Scotland this morning to discuss how best to meet the needs of Scotland's veterans and current service personnel.
During the debate Mr Maxwell said:
"Scotland's veterans, alongside those currently serving in our military forces, deserve our gratitude for their selfless duty to this country, which has been served with great distinction and honour.
"The Scottish Government is committed to doing all that it can, in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and the wider veterans and armed forces community, to meet the needs and aspirations of all of our servicemen and women, both past and present.
"That is why, through our Commitments Paper, we have introduced a series of measures aimed directly at benefiting the men and women who have given of themselves for our defence.
"Already Priority Treatment has been extended to all veterans with a condition associated with military service and in November we will launch a pilot approach to community based mental health services for veterans.
"Further action is also planned in areas including housing, education and skills, transport, support for families and wider access to public services.
"Our plans for creating an Armed Forces and Veterans Forum will help to deliver on these proposals by ensuring that all key partners are in direct contact.
"This government does not presume to have all the answers to the issues being faced by our veterans and current service personnel, but we are determined to work with partners to make a meaningful difference to their lives."
Veterans and armed forces issues are reserved to Westminster but through the devolution settlement the Scottish Government has responsibility to Scotland's veterans in areas such as housing, health and social care, education, skills and employability and social inclusion.
In June the Scottish Government published its Commitments Paper, alongside the MoD's Command Paper, both of which set out what the government has done for current members of the armed forces and veterans, and what it intends to do in regard to housing, health, education and skills, transport, support for families and wider access to public services.
In addition to Priority Treatment and the community based mental health services pilot, other proposals in the Commitments Paper include:
- A guarantee that the NHS will provide, to an equivalent standard, state of the art prosthetics to injured veterans
- Priority access for service families to shared equity schemes to make house purchases more affordable
- Improved access to higher education for service leavers with 6 year's service
- Continuous automatic entitlement to the Blue Badge scheme for severely disabled veterans without further assessment
In May Stewart Maxwell announced that for the first time the Scottish Government will provide dedicated funding for veterans issues with the creation of the Scottish Veterans Fund. The fund totalling £240,000 will be available to veterans groups and charities over the next three years and is aimed at projects that deliver new or innovative approaches to veterans issues.