One of the objectives we should set ourselves is to ensure that the path into work of those leaving the armed services should be supported so that they can continue to fulfil their potential in the civilian workforce. Across the UK, veterans are less likely to be in work than the general population, and nearly twice as likely to be unemployed. Now, there are reasons why working-age veterans face particular challenges. Often, those who join the armed forces at a young age do so as an alternative career path to further or higher education or civilian employment. Some will choose that because they don’t feel they have, perhaps, an aptitude for conventional learning, and up to 50 per cent of army recruits have literacy and numeracy skills that are below the standard expected of school leavers at 16. Those in older age groups leaving the services often feel less confident, for example, in their computer skills, but—and this is a very important caveat—a career in the services can also enable an individual to develop very real and useful skills that can be a useful asset to a civilian employer.

As Business in the Community acknowledge,

‘with over 200 trades in the Army alone, armed forces personnel receive advance training in a number of technical roles, including engineering, project management, communications, logistics and IT’— and a wider range than that—

‘all transferable to the civilian workplace.’

But the issue is often that those skills don’t result in a formal qualification that an employer outside the services can recognise as an indicator of a particular skill set and a given level of proficiency. So, one issue is how we translate those skills, which are real, into language that an employer would understand. As one veteran said:

‘There’s certain things you don’t have a qualification for. For instance being in charge of between 200 and 600 men…. I’ve been in charge of pay documentation, passports, deployments, bombs, bullets, you name it…. It didn’t mean a thing because I don’t have qualifications’.

So, I want to pay tribute to the many voluntary programmes that support ex-serving personnel with getting into work on discharge: Getting You Back to Work by the Poppy Factory, the ex-forces employment programme, a British Legion online mentoring programme, and also LifeWorks, which is here at the Assembly next week, which is a five-day course, with coaching, interview preparation, and cv workshops provided by the British Legion.

I’m also aware the Welsh Government works very closely with voluntary bodies supporting ex-service personnel, and many have benefited from the Armed Forces Employability Pathways, and also from Jobs Growth Wales. But I would ask the Government, as it rolls out its programme for apprenticeships, and the new Skills Gateway in this Assembly, to consider how they can also be used to help service personnel fulfil their potential in the civilian workforce, and I know that there’s good work happening within the apprenticeship pathway.

It is a matter of pride, as other Members have said, that local authorities—all local authorities—and health boards in Wales have armed forces champions, and I would encourage businesses also to sign the armed forces covenant, which supports veterans into work by guaranteeing interviews to veterans, recognising military skills at interview and actively seeking to raise awareness of job opportunities amongst those leaving the services.

It is important in this week of remembrance that we acknowledge the dedication of our serving personnel and ex-serving personnel, and I believe it’s our duty also to recognise the particular challenges many face in entering the world of work and to ensure they get the support they need in order to do so, so that they’re able to carry into the world of civilian employment the commitment they’ve shown in the services, and so that the talents they bring are not lost to our economy.