Hansard

I welcome the announcement of a commissioner, which I think is a step in the right direction. The minister suggests that the commissioner would oversee the provisions for veterans and explore where the gaps are and why they are there. That is an extremely good idea, despite the fact that we seem to have an extremely joined-up landscape at the moment. The minister suggested that he will consult on the commissioner’s remit, which is extraordinarily sensible, because it means that some of the questions that have reasonably been asked about what the commissioner will do can be dealt with in the remit that he or she is given when the time comes.

Clearly, some people find the transition out of the armed forces extraordinarily difficult. We can understand why that might be the case and we should see that beforehand. Every time someone moves into a new job, it should be obvious that at some point they will move out of it. I find it extraordinary that the armed forces did not work out a long time ago that they need to find ways of transitioning their members into civilian life. The Government’s commitments document, which was published fairly recently, has a threefold approach that involves providing support for servicemen, engaging with the community and providing personal services.

In passing, I note that the independence white paper makes a few observations about what we would do if we were in charge of absolutely everything. There is the idea that there should be no compulsory redundancies. The idea of someone getting their P45 on the battlefield does not appeal to me, and I do not think that it appeals to any member. There is also the idea that we might review pensions, in recognition that, for one reason or another, Scots do not seem to live quite as long as others. That undoubtedly applies to those who have been in the armed services, so we could reasonably look at that issue.

Another important issue is access to housing, which has been mentioned only briefly. I want to highlight an opportunity in Carnoustie in Angus. I have with me not so much a dodgy dossier as a dodgy picture of the minister, who appears to be in charge of an extremely large piece of equipment, which I think had just demolished some houses—I hope that he was not about to demolish them. Those houses are to be replaced by new housing, some of which is specifically for veterans. Appropriate accommodation is absolutely essential and is undoubtedly an extremely good idea for those who have been injured.

Rushing swiftly on, I want to pick up on the issue of mental health, which some members have mentioned. I am grateful to Mark Griffin for a new phrase. He mentioned that members of the armed forces come out into a “community of strangers”. That is a new phrase to me and one that I will remember. Christina McKelvie asked whether we understand, and the answer to that very obvious question is no. We also need to understand the “Just get on with it” attitude in the military. We know where it comes from, but it means that those who leave perhaps think that they just need to get on with the difficulties in life when, actually, they should not need to.

I have some quite alarming MOD statistics from the Falklands war. I am conscious that the minister had some involvement in that war. There were just under 26,000 UK armed forces personnel there. Some 237 sadly died during the campaign and, at the time of the report, 1,335 had died since 1982. More importantly for my point, 95 of those deaths were attributable to suicide or were open verdicts.

That is the sharp end of the health issues, and the issue will not go away. Many charities, including Combat Stress, are already working on it, and I suspect that we are still seeing only the tip of an iceberg. A great number of the cases will come later in life as other traumatic events affect those veterans. That is, perhaps, an issue to which we will have to return.

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