Meeting of the Parliament 09 December 2025
It is my pleasure to present the Scottish Government’s ninth annual update to the Parliament on our support for Scotland’s veterans and armed forces community. Before I reflect on the report, it is important to acknowledge what has brought us here today, which is our invaluable armed forces community, veterans, serving persons and their families, who should have access to the help, support and public services that they need, when they need them.
The impact of service life for the vast majority of people is positive, but we know that some face unique difficulties and risks as a result of their time in the military. I know that, for older veterans, for example, accessibility of services and support can present particular challenges that demand that we think outside the box and consider innovative ways to support them.
As in previous years, alongside this debate, we have published our annual report, which details fully what we and our partners have done throughout the past year. The debate is intended as a welcome opportunity to highlight successes and the progress that has been made by that collaborative effort, and to offer members the chance to challenge us on where we can do more. In the time that I have available, I hope to cover as many aspects of all that as possible.
This year, I was delighted to attend the launch of the veterans in-service injury network in Inverness. VISIN will provide independent expert clinical review of military service-related injuries that remain a concern despite treatment, either previous or current. There have already been nine referrals to the service in just a few short weeks, five of which were progressed to the multidisciplinary team.
The issue of waiting times for serving personnel has also come to the fore recently. We are aware that such delays can affect operational readiness and continuity of care and, in some cases, can lead to medical discharge due to prolonged deployment ineligibility. I understand that that is an issue in Scotland as well as in England and Wales.
To identify solutions that work within the context of the national health service in Scotland, my officials are engaged with Ministry of Defence counterparts and are exploring direct referral pathways from defence medical services to NHS services, to help to tackle issues, reduce delays and improve access.
I take this opportunity to thank the Scottish Veterans Commissioner, Susie Hamilton, who is in the gallery today, for all of her hard work over the past three years, and for continuing to hold us to account for delivering our support to the veterans community.
A few months ago, the commissioner published her latest progress report, summarising our delivery against the recommendations that she and her predecessors had set out for us. I was delighted that, for the first time, we had no red assessments regarding progress against all the recommendations, which, at times during my tenure as veterans minister, has seemed as aspirational as Scotland reaching the world cup finals. However, both of those goals have been achieved—and in the same year. As the commissioner highlighted, work remains to be done, and we cannot—we will not—allow ourselves to become complacent.
Uptake of the general practice armed forces and veterans recognition scheme remains unacceptably low, and it is vital that it improves to ensure that as many veterans and armed forces families receive the understanding and tailored care that they deserve in primary healthcare settings.