As I said to Mr Doris, it is important to emphasise that the SFRS does not respond to incidents from one single fire station. Operation control deploys the appropriate level of resources to every incident, based on predetermined response levels.

The safety and welfare of staff is paramount, and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service continues to invest in the repair and maintenance of its buildings so that it can deliver services to communities across Scotland. We will continue to work closely with the SFRS to identify the capital funding that it needs for buildings, fleet and equipment.

The fire stations with the fewest facilities are in remote locations and deal with very few incidents. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has introduced procedures to ensure that firefighters in those locations have workable solutions to ensure that contaminated personal protective equipment, for example, is dealt with safely.

These Scottish Fire and Rescue Service temporary changes have been based on data and the premise that there should be no increased risk to the public or to firefighters. The SFRS has a predetermined response to high-rise fires. That response is already provided from multiple fire stations, and that will not change. Any large-scale incident will be quickly responded to with the necessary resources, including specialist high-reaching appliances from the local area and beyond. It remains the position that, in the event of a fire in a high-rise building, the SFRS will undertake a rescue of any person who is unable to self-evacuate and who is affected by fire and smoke.

It is important to emphasise that the SFRS does not respond to incidents from one single fire station. Operation control deploys the appropriate level of resources to every incident, based on predetermined response levels.

From memory, I think that the figure is three appliances in the member’s area. The SFRS has for some time faced challenge and has been unable to fully crew all appliances at all fire stations due to a range of factors, including absences and vacancy. That results in a need to deploy firefighters from other stations to crew priority appliances, which has additional overtime cost and creates uncertainty for individual firefighters about the station that they will operate out of in any given shift. The current initiative to temporarily withdraw a number of appliances from service is a tool to secure efficiencies and resolve the issue of appliances being taken off the run on that basis.

If a child is placed in secure care via the children’s hearings system, the provisions that govern information sharing in that system allow for information about whether a compulsory supervision order has been made or how the hearing was otherwise changed. There is no provision in the bill to share information beyond that, because it is not an offence or behaviour alone that determines where a child is placed or for how long.

The system takes a holistic approach and considers how the child’s welfare needs as well as offence and behaviour engage with the secure care criteria.

I do not have those figures at hand, but I am happy to write to Jamie Greene with them.

The review report was published yesterday and we are considering its recommendations.

The bill is part of a wider strategic programme of work including the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill and work on the bairns’ hoose. On-going engagement is taking place with officials who are leading on this area to ensure that there is a joined-up approach across Government.

The Scottish Government has provided the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with an additional budget of £4.4 million on top of the £10 million uplift that was set out in the 2023-24 budget announcement. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has advised me that locations have been identified through risk modelling using historical incident data and have been assessed as being the least impactful in relation to response times for the first and second appliances attending incidents.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service currently has in the region of 635 operational fire appliances across Scotland and this modest reduction will allow it to ensure that more of the remaining 625 operational appliances are always available for deployment. The service has extended an invitation to any member who wishes to raise concerns with the local service officers to discuss that issue.

Information provided by Police Scotland indicates that in the period since the 2021 act came into force, between August 2021 and February 2023, more than 5,000 reports of assaults or of threatening or abusive behaviour against retail workers have been received. Clearly, that number of reported incidents is very concerning and is unacceptable, but I hope that it also shows that retail employees are aware of the legislation and are using it. Last November, Police Scotland launched the national assault pledge and #NotPartOfTheJob campaign. It has also established a retailers forum where retailers can discuss issues and concerns and share best practice.

The Scottish Government is committed to advancing the rights of child victims through legislative and non-legislative measures. Both the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill and the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill contain provisions to increase protection for the privacy and dignity of child victims. We recognise that children find aspects of the system particularly traumatising, so they will benefit from the trauma-informed and person-centred approaches that underpin the legislation.

We have also published our vision for the bairns’ hoose, which is a transformational, whole-system approach to delivering child protection, justice and health support and services to child victims.