First Report - Defence in Scotland: military landscape
Select Committee
Scottish Affairs Committee
HC 82
24 June 2022
Recommendations
3 results
10
Accepted
The MOD should intensify its collaboration efforts with all Scottish local authorities facing base closures...
Recommendation
The MOD should intensify its collaboration efforts with all Scottish local authorities facing base closures or base expansions, and engage with them at earlier stages in those processes. The MOD should also work with Scottish local authorities to jointly produce, …
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Government Response Summary
The MOD will continue to work with local authorities to determine the impact of basing decisions on communities and how we release surplus military sites for meaningful future use. MOD already employs dedicated locally based estate leads for all of our sites in Scotland to facilitate regular engagement with local councils.
Scotland Office
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15
Accepted
Para 91
While improvements have been made in this area—for example the Scottish Government’s ‘Welcome to Scotland’...
Recommendation
While improvements have been made in this area—for example the Scottish Government’s ‘Welcome to Scotland’ guide—there is scope for the MOD to be more proactive in the information it routinely shares with Armed Forces personnel and their families when they …
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Government Response Summary
The MOD commits to working with the Scottish Government and Service Families Federations to refresh the ‘Welcome to Scotland’ publication annually and signpost it to personnel.
Scotland Office
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17
Accepted
Para 93
The UK Government should accelerate work with relevant responsible bodies across the UK to reduce...
Recommendation
The UK Government should accelerate work with relevant responsible bodies across the UK to reduce barriers that military spouses and partners face when attempting to transfer their professional qualifications—for example, teaching qualifications— between UK nations. In line with the Armed …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that the Scottish Credits and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP), the Training, Education, Skills, Recruitment and Resettlement team (TESRR) of MOD and Skills Development Scotland, have collaborated to simplify the current system for mapping and translating qualifications and that spouses may use the online tool to translate their qualifications.
Scotland Office
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Conclusions (1) Observations and findings — click to expand
4
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 32
We welcome the MOD’s high level of spending with Scottish industry (around 10% of total spending with industry) but are concerned that this spending is very heavily skewed towards major international prime contractors rather than SMEs. This is illustrated by the fact that only 2.5% of the MOD’s spending with …
Government Response Summary
The MOD recognises the skills offered by Scottish SMEs but rejects the view that there is an engrained hesitancy within the defence sector towards working with them, and outlines various initiatives to support SMEs.