Meeting of the Parliament 09 December 2025
As others have done, I record the huge debt of gratitude that we owe to our armed forces.
Those who serve want simple things. While they are serving, they want to know that their families are taken care of, that they are provided with good-quality housing, that their children will not lose their place on an NHS waiting list or their support at school due to a relocation, that there is a job opportunity for their partner and that adequate childcare is available at a new posting. After their service concludes, they want to know that their mental and physical health will be taken care of and that support is available to adjust socially.
I was very interested to hear the contribution of the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans, Graeme Dey, in which he highlighted the wait for care for servicemen and women and talked about the outcomes from those delays. I welcome his frustration that GP uptake of the armed forces and veterans recognition scheme is unacceptably low, and I welcome what he is doing to promote that scheme and formally accredit it to improve uptake.
Many of the matters that we are talking about are devolved, which is why I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to the armed forces covenant, although I have to say that I am a little dismayed that there have been no specific meetings at this stage to discuss the expansion of that covenant into social care with health and social care partnerships and councils, according to the reply to a parliamentary question that I asked a few weeks ago. Given the role that adequate social care plays in making sure that people can live their best independent lives, as was highlighted by my colleague Sandesh Gulhane, and the issues of homelessness that my colleague Edward Mountain has raised, there is more to do.