Veterans Scotland General Secretary Update
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the last Veterans Scotland News article of 2021 and I am grateful to all of you for helping by providing articles and information for it over the last 12 months. Our readership has increased and we now routinely get feedback on the value of the information that we collate and distribute. Please keep the articles coming!
Readers will be keen to hear about two important matters that have now taken place:
- On 15th December, The Armed Forces Bill 2021 gained Royal Assent in Parliament yesterday. This Act introduces a statutory duty on certain public bodies to pay due regard to the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant when carrying out specific functions in the areas of housing, healthcare and education. The new duty does not come into force straight away – UK Government are planning for it to stand up in mid-2022. In the meantime, they will continue to work on developing the statutory guidance that will accompany the duty; Veterans Scotland intend to use our ‘Informing Scotland’ briefings to assist local authorities and other statutory organisations in interpreting the guidance and seeing it implemented across Scotland.
You can read the press release on the passage of the Bill here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-armed-forces-bill-passed-in-parliament.
- The UK Government has also published its Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Annual Report 2021. The report, published jointly by the MOD and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, sets out the progress the UK Government has made this year in delivering the Covenant and the Strategy for our Veterans.
You can find the full report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/armed-forces-covenant-and-veterans-annual-report-2021. I’m also attaching to this e-mail our shorter summary booklet, as well as this year’s ‘Covenant on a page’ graphic. Please do share both widely across your networks.
Finally, a huge thank you to all of you for all that you have done this year in support of the Armed Forces and Veterans Community; all of the support, collaboration and co-operation that you have given over the last year has enhanced the lives of so many in the Armed Forces and Veterans Community. We look forward to continuing to work closely with everyone during 2022, I wish everyone a happy and relaxed Christmas and New Year period.
Merry Christmas,
Jim Wilson
General Secretary
Veterans Scotland
Covenant on a Page Document Covenant Annual Report Summary Booklet
