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Tribute paid to Scotland's troops
29/10/2009
First Minister Alex Salmond has today praised the courage and commitment of Scotland's servicemen and women.
The First Minister was speaking ahead of a Service of Remembrance at Motherwell Cathedral in honour of our armed forces who have been killed or injured in the wars in current conflicts.
First Minister Alex Salmond said:
"The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a significant toll on our armed forces, and we honour the bravery of our service men and women, and the sacrifice of those who did not come home.
"The Scottish Government will continue to do all that we can to meet the needs of all of our service personnel, both past and present. We owe all of the men and women of our armed forces respect, gratitude and our support."
Major General David McDowall CBE, recently appointed advisor to the Scottish Government on veterans' issues, said:
"I join the First Minister and members of the Scottish Government in paying tribute to all members of our Armed Forces who have been killed and injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I welcome the commitment of the Scottish Government to the veterans and their families, and I look forward to supporting those efforts".
The Scottish Government's Commitments Paper was published in July 2008. It sets out a series of measures aimed at directly at benefiting our armed forces and veterans. This support includes:
- £1.2 million Scottish Government funding to Combat Stress to provide veterans access to specialist mental health services
- Priority NHS treatment to all veterans with a condition associated with their military service
- A guarantee that the NHS in Scotland will provide state of the art prosthetics to injured veterans
- Changes to the arrangements for retention of places on NHS waiting lists for injured personnel and their families who move between areas
- Priority access to shared-equity schemes for all eligible Armed Forces members and veterans who have left the Forces in the last year to help them join the property ladder
- The introduction of regulations abolishing means testing for disabled homeowners who need adaptations, meaning that Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pension Scheme payments are now not taken into account
- A committment to widen our Free Bus Travel Scheme to Service personnel and Veterans seriously injured on duty from 2011