Note of meeting held via MS Teams and Committee Room 2, Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton on 31 May 2023

Chair
Councillor Mark Horsham, Armed Forces Veterans Champion, South Lanarkshire Council

Firm Base Group Members Present:
Councillor Bob Burgess, Armed Forces Veterans Champion, North Lanarkshire Council
Geraldine McCann, Lead Officer for Veterans Issues, South Lanarkshire Council
Lynne Wyllie, Administration Assistant, South Lanarkshire Council
Craig Cunningham, Veterans Champion, NHS Lanarkshire
Rachel Blair, Legal Manager, North Lanarkshire Council
Marie Crombie, Chief Executive, Fares4Free
Gary Jamieson, RBLI Lifeworks
Caroline Belch, Welfare Support Officer, Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
Audrey Cuthbertson, Lanarkshire Armed Services Advice Project (ASAP)
Suzie Hamilton, Scottish Veterans Commissioner
Karen Holmes, Veterans Welfare Service
Kevin Mullarkey, Children’s Service Planning Manager, Education Resources, South Lanarkshire Council
Kenny Cumming, Veterans Welfare Officer, Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS)
David Cowin, Communications and Office Support Co-ordinator, Veterans Scotland
Donald Mack, Situation Awareness
Kerry Crichton, Lead Nurse, Combat Stress
Colonel Ted Shields MBE, Chief Executive, Lowland Reserve Forces and Cadet Association
Yvonne Hinshelwood, Operations Co Ordinator, North Lanarkshire Council
Samantha Booth, Veterans First Point
Mark Spowart, Department for Work and Pensions
Stuart Roberts, Depute Lieutenant, Office of the Lieutenancy

Apologies:
Archie Aitken, Lead Officer for Veterans Issues, North Lanarkshire Council
Alistair Ferrier, Eric Foy and June Weir, Team Leaders, Skills Development Scotland
Catherine Johnstone, North Lanarkshire Council
Dr Jennifer Ring, Veterans First Point
Shaun Cauvin, Veterans Scotland
Catherine Johnstone, North Lanarkshire Council

1 Chair’s Opening Remarks

Councillor Horsham welcomed everyone to the meeting, including S Hamilton, the Scottish Veterans Commissioner and asked everyone to introduce themselves.

2    Note of Previous Meeting

The note of the meeting of the Firm Base held on 1 February 2023 was submitted for approval as a correct record.  

Outcome(s):    Minutes approved.

3    Armed Forces Covenant Duty - Statutory Guidance

G McCann, Head of Administration and Legal Services, South Lanarkshire Council provided an update on The Armed Forces Bill, which had now become the Armed Forces Act 2021.  The Covenant had now been enshrined in law and there was now a statutory duty to give due regard to the Covenant in certain services.  Within South Lanarkshire Council, this included:-

• Housing and Technical Resources
• allocation policy for social housing
• homelessness
• disabled facility grants
• Education Resources -  admissions
• educational attainment and the curriculum
• child wellbeing
• transport
• attendance
• additional support needs
• Health and Social Care Partnership - a duty to take account of the health needs of veterans

The Council, when making new policies, now had to give due regard to the impact policies could have on the veterans and their families.  Council Committee reports had an ‘Other Implications’ section which would detail anything that had an impact on veterans.

The Council also has a duty to consult with veterans on any policy that would have an impact on them.  The new guidance published by the Ministry of Defence in November 2022, was very helpful in giving advice, with detailed interpretation and good examples of the Duty.

Councillor Horsham had been looking into creating a Webinar, looking at existing examples from others and G McCann confirmed that it was the Council’s intention to roll out the Webinar for main officers within the Council.

Everyone present was encouraged to read the Guidance which was very helpful.

Councillor Horsham agreed that he would prepare an annual report to go to full Council meetings and G McCann would feed anything in that the Council had done to promote and have due regard to the Covenant in South Lanarkshire Council’s role.

R Blair, North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) confirmed that they had also updated their Equality Impact Assessment/Fairer Scotland Duty documentation to reflect the requirement to have due regard to the Armed Forces Community Covenant.  NLC were currently reporting to Housing, Education and Social matters.  In the next cycle of meetings, NLC would be preparing a report on the work of all aspects of the Armed Forces and R Blair, NLC would ensure that her colleagues were made aware of the Webinar.

Councillor Burgess also agreed that NLC would submit a report to full Council each year to provide an update on the work of the armed forces community within their area.

Councillor Horsham suggested that any other local authority would be welcome to come along and see what kind of issues this Group were dealing with and share good practice.

Councillor Horsham agreed to share the webinar with Group members.

Outcome(s):    Position noted.

4    Change of Name/Terms of Reference – Lanarkshire Armed Forces Community and Veterans Covenant Group

Discussions had taken place about changing the name of the Group from Lanarkshire Firm Base to the Lanarkshire Armed Forces Community and Veterans Covenant Group.

It was agreed that the Terms of Reference be reviewed and would be renewed next year.  Any amended terms would require the agreement of both Councils.

R Blair confirmed that both she and A Aitken would go through the Terms of Reference with South Lanarkshire Council representatives and the new Terms of Reference would be presented to the Group before being submitted to the respective Councils.

It was agreed that the Group would review the current Terms of Reference in 2024 with assistance from Councillor Horsham, Councillor Burgess, G McCann, R Blair, A Aitken, C Cunningham and K Mullarkey.

Outcome(s):    That the name of the group now be known as the Lanarkshire Armed Forces Community and Veterans Covenant Group and that the current Terms of Reference be reviewed in 2024.

5    Support for Veterans at Interviews

South Lanarkshire Council held an Awareness Session on 21 April 2023 with various guest speakers including:-

• C Sally, Ex-Forces Employment Consultant (West Scotland), Forces Employment Charity
• E Foy, Team Leader, Skills Development Scotland
• M Spowart, Armed Forces Champion for South West Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions
• G Davey, Area Director for Scotland, RAF Benevolent Fund

During the session the speakers and attendees mainly concentrated on recruitment and the Guaranteed Interview Scheme which ensured that candidates would not be disadvantaged in anyway.

Following the awareness session, it was agreed that E Foy, Skills Development Scotland provide training for South Lanarkshire Council’s HR staff for interviewing veterans.

Councillor Horsham confirmed that an Armed Forces Awareness online training course would be made available as soon as possible for all employees and councillors, to be completed every 1 to 2 years.

R Blair also confirmed that North Lanarkshire Council also had a Guaranteed Interview Scheme.

Outcome(s):    Position noted.

Councillor Burgess left the meeting after this item of business

6    Scottish Veterans Commissioner

S Hamilton, the Scottish Veterans Commissioner outlined her 3 year strategic plan for 2023 to 2025 which included it’s mission and mandate, vision and values, and offered an outline of the work that would be pursued during her 3 year appointment as Scottish Veterans Commissioner. It would set a path and priorities, as well as the next steps and approach the Commissioner would be taking.  Some of this work may be more long term and would continue beyond the end of Commissioner’s tenure and then this would be a decision for her successor.

Mission
Independent from Government, the Commissioner’s mission was to advocate for our veterans and their families, working collaboratively across boundaries, to influence policy and service delivery and make life better for the ex-Service community who lived in Scotland.

Mandate
The office of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner was created by the Scottish Government in 2014, with a mandate to improve outcomes for veterans and their families in Scotland. Engagement was at the core of the work and forging positive working relationships with a range of stakeholders helped to identify and promote best practice, what worked, what needed to change and what new opportunities existed for improvement in devolved areas.

Vision
The Commissioner wanted to see a Scotland where the contributions and sacrifices made by veterans and their families were recognised and appreciated and where all veterans felt valued by society.  They should be enabled to live as satisfying and fulfilling a life as possible, and where and when it was needed, be able to access effective and timely advice and support.

Values
The 7 Principles of Public Life would guide the Commissioner in her work to secure the best possible outcomes for veterans and their families and in helping make Scotland the destination of choice for Service leavers.

Over her 3-year tenure as Commissioner, she wanted to achieve progress against the following four long-term outcomes:-

• our veterans and their families were empowered to make informed choices to secure positive futures
• the diversity of our veterans community was clearly recognised and valued, with support and services equally accessible to all
• policy makers, service providers and the 3rd sector would be responsive to need, collaborative in approach and aligned in their efforts to maximise positive outcomes
• our communities and employers better understand, value and support veterans as they return to civilian life, to contribute to society and build fulfilling lives

 In the 3 years of the Commissioner’s tenure she would look specifically at the following areas, in line with the key themes and outcomes set out in the 10-year UK wide ‘A Strategy for our Veterans’:-

• community and relationships – this would look into the experiences of the wider veterans community and how well served all veterans and their families were by existing services.  It would consider the particular needs and challenges faced by women and LGBT+ veterans
• veterans and the law – this would look at whether the right support was in place for the small minority of veterans in custody or who came into contact with the criminal justice system, whether that support was reducing the risk of re-offending and at what support was available to spouses/partners and children
• finance and debt – the Commissioner would look at the advice, guidance and support provided for veterans as they returned to civilian life and in the longer-term.  This would include consideration of the action aimed at ensuring veterans had sufficient financial education and awareness to be financially self-supporting and resilient and potential inequality or disadvantage in statutory financial support

The Veterans Commissioner was expecting to publish her findings on the first of these by the end of 2023.

 Outcome(s):    Position noted.

7    Veteran Friendly GP Practices

Councillor Horsham had received an email from Dr Lisa Cameron MP, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow on Veteran Friendly GP Practices.  C Cunningham confirmed that this scheme was mainly used in England, however, in Scotland some work had been carried out asking some GPs to volunteer to work alongside the team at Scottish Government level to see if there was anything more identifiable that GPs or the wider practice team could do in supporting veterans.  At present, there were 15 GP practices in Scotland doing this, with one in Lanarkshire.  In Scotland, there was a good NHS Armed Forces Veterans Champions network.

Martin Bell was in charge of the Practitioners’ Service and he was also an Armed Forces’ Veterans Champion for the NHS.

Throughout Scotland, GP’s had access to a database called ALISS.  This database included all voluntary sectors in their area and GPs were able to provide patients with details of groups that dealt with veterans.

Councillor Horsham and C Cunningham would prepare a draft response to Lisa Cameron MP and this would be shared with the Group at the next meeting.

Outcome(s):    Position noted.

8    RBLI Lifeworks

G Jamieson, Referral Engagement Officer, Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) gave a presentation on the work of RBLI including:-

• about Lifeworks
• course overview
• after the course
• who is it for?
• how much does it cost?

G Jamieson was thanked for his informative presentation.

Outcome(s):    Presentation noted.

9    Any Other Competent Business

All members present provided a brief update on the various tasks/activities that had been carried out since the last meeting.

The Chair confirmed there were no other items of competent business.

Outcome(s):    Position noted.

10    Date of Next Meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Lanarkshire Armed Forces Community and Veterans Covenant Group be held in September 2023 hosted by North Lanarkshire Council, with a date/time to be confirmed.