The member is aware that, as the Member of Parliament for Moray between 2001 and 2017, I had the good fortune to represent a Constituency that had the most significant military footprint of anywhere in Scotland. I am very well aware of the role that accommodation plays in the viability of military bases, as in the cases of the two Royal Air Force bases—there is now one—the army engineering base and Fort George, which is absolutely an historic site.

We need our armed forces to be provided with appropriate base facilities and accommodation, but I observe that the armed forces’ footprint in Scotland is now the smallest that it has been since the Napoleonic wars. Unfortunately, we are living in times in which there is a conflict in Europe and a requirement for us all to get behind appropriate defence spending in order to make sure that our armed forces are properly supported.

Today’s motion gives us the opportunity to underline how important it is that we support our veterans and their families. Members will know that the Scottish Government offers its full support and commitment to our veterans and their families, primarily through our veterans strategy action plan and our role in responding to—and supporting the delivery of—the Scottish veterans commissioner’s recommendations.

In December last year, Graeme Dey delivered his latest annual update to Parliament, in which he outlined how the Government had supported the entire armed forces community throughout the previous year. As ever, that was accompanied by a published report, which fully detailed what the Government and its partners had done in the preceding 12 months. He made particular reference to successes such as the Government’s support for veterans’ physical and mental health; its encouragement of collaboration throughout the sector to best support veterans and their families; its obtaining detailed veterans data, from the census in particular; and its continued funding of projects through the Scottish veterans fund.

The Scottish Government remains committed to providing the very best support for our veterans, their families and service families. I give my personal thanks to all the individuals and organisations who continue to support our veterans and armed forces community and who work hard every day to do so. I thank Liz Smith for bringing forward the motion today and members for their contributions and reflections on the Black Watch’s decorated history throughout the past three centuries.