What does the Commissioner do?
The Commissioner’s primary role, as laid down by the terms of their appointment by Scottish Ministers, is:
“… to improve outcomes for veterans in Scotland, by engaging with, listening to, and acting on the experience of veterans, individually and collectively, and to be an ambassador for veterans in Scotland, helping public services focus on veterans experience of their service provision.”
Their remit is to:
- provide leadership and challenge and drive momentum towards realising the ambition in “Renewing Our Commitments” (the Scottish Government’s strategic direction document of February 2016);
- listen, be open and accessible to the real life experiences of individual veterans and draw on that to shape priorities and drive improvement in devolved public services;
- improve communication and understanding of veterans’ needs, issues and aspirations;
- promote wider recognition of the skills, experience and talent of our veterans and their value as important assets to our communities and employers;
- work to align effort on the delivery of priority outcomes for veterans, through collaboration and focussed effort of delivery partners both statutory and voluntary;
- recognise and factor into plans the support that Armed Forces’ and Veterans’ families may also require in preparing for and during transition from Military life;
- chair the Scottish Veterans Fund Panel to ensure that robust recommendations and appropriate applications for the Fund are presented to the Scottish Veterans Minister.
