Chamber and committees

We have heard today from Sarah Boyack of the real-terms 22 per cent cut to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service budget over the past 10 years. We have also heard how 15 per cent of the workforce has been lost and another 780 jobs are currently at risk. In the face of our climate emergency, that is not sustainable. In just the first two days of storm Babet, the service received more than 750 emergency calls and attended almost 300 incidents, including rescuing people from homes and vehicles. Our fire and rescue workers put themselves on the front line for us every day, yet they are having to fight for the fundamental resources that they need in order to do their jobs.

The Scottish Government might argue that the reduction in rescue workers should not concern us, that the Government is reducing—in other ways—the risk to life from flooding, and even that those jobs are no longer necessary, but all the evidence suggests otherwise.

As the minister acknowledged in her statement last Wednesday, and as has been emphasised again today, our changing climate is bringing more extreme weather events with increasing risks of flooding. In 2015, SEPA described the event of 100 homes being flooded in the Brechin area as a once-in-200-years chance, but it happened again just eight years later. In 2021, SEPA estimated that hundreds of homes and businesses in Brechin would be evacuated by floods in the 2080s, due to climate change. Just two years later, hundreds of my constituents have had to be evacuated. Climate change is affecting our environment vastly more rapidly than we have been prepared for, and although we hear time and again about the steps that are being taken to protect communities, clearly they are not enough.

The Scottish Government might argue that it aims to tackle the risk of flooding at source—by tackling climate change. We heard from Rona Mackay that we are in the eye of the storm of climate change. We know that climate change is global and that the effects are likely to cascade, and will trigger more and more extreme events, such as storm Babet, at home and across the world.

However, dramatic action and leadership still have the potential to make a huge difference, so we cannot afford to keep missing our emissions targets. Yes—we are more than halfway to net zero, but our emissions reductions have been slower than planned, despite the significant drop in travel during the pandemic. That means that Scotland is continuing to contribute to climate disasters, both at home and globally, with little sign of them reducing any time soon. The decisions that we make here impact people everywhere, because our climate is connected. We must act now or we risk endangering more lives.

The good news is that we are not powerless to save our climate and there are lessons from nature that we can learn. We heard from Maggie Chapman about natural flood management solutions. Those can be hugely effective and offer a way to increase resilience while also meeting biodiversity, carbon capture and other environmental goals.

Willie Rennie spoke about the benefits of riparian woodlands, which can slow river flows, cool water temperatures, improve water quality and increase biodiversity. In addition, our abundant peatlands can act as a natural sponge to prevent rainfall in higher areas causing rivers downstream to overflow. That is why it is so concerning that the Scottish Government has missed its woodland creation targets for the past five years, that 80 per cent of our peatland is in a degraded state and that the Scottish Government has missed its target for peatland restoration for five years in a row.

Today, we have heard that targets to reduce climate change, create woodland and restore peatland are not being met. We have heard that the Government has failed to report on flood risk management plans and to adequately fund the Fire and Rescue Service, and that that has failed communities such as Brechin.

We know the problems that we face from climate change, because they are well documented. We know the solutions that are needed for climate adaptation—they are within reach. However, we lack a Government that is willing and able to rise to that challenge.

I thank Katy Clark for securing tonight’s important debate on the subject of fire service cuts. Like many in the chamber, I am compelled to speak tonight by my alarm over reports that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has ordered the temporary withdrawal of fire appliances at 10 stations across Scotland. One of those appliances is set to be removed from Kingsway East fire station in Dundee, in my region. Although those changes are reportedly temporary, firefighters and their trade union, the FBU, know all too well how easily temporary solutions become permanent, and, like them, I am extremely concerned by the proposals. I fear the impact that they will have on my constituents and the significant risk to firefighters and the public that those changes will cause.

I also fear the impact that a reduction in appliances will have on staff numbers—staff whose essential skills and expertise could then be lost from the service for ever. We know that recruitment and retention are already an issue in the fire service, which has lost 1,100 firefighters in the past 10 years, with a further 780 job losses still to come, according to the SFRS’s financial projections. Having fewer firefighters means longer response times and greater risk to the public and to the firefighters responding to emergency incidents.

In the event of any major incident in Dundee, there is concern that there simply is not the cover needed to keep our firefighters safe and protect the public. It is simply not good enough to refer to appliances elsewhere, because mobilising appliances from other stations has an impact on the service’s ability to respond quickly, and it could leave those other areas vulnerable.

We simply cannot allow further cuts to this emergency service. It is imperative that the Scottish Government provides immediate and sustained investment in the SFRS to enable it to retain all 10 appliances and maintain the personnel required to staff them. However, when I wrote to the Minister for Victims and Community Safety to urge her to act, she was unwilling to meaningfully engage, stating that

“Operational decisions on the number and location of appliances are entirely a matter for the SFRS Board and Chief Officer”.

However, those operational decisions do not take place in a vacuum—they take place within the context of budgets. It is the minister’s Government that sets the fire service’s budget.

This summer, the SFRS published its organisational statistics for 2022-23, which show several concerning trends that further highlight the impact of shrinking budgets and firefighter numbers. That report does not even include the further cuts that have taken place over the course of the summer. Let us be clear: the problems facing the fire service are the result of chronic underfunding over a sustained period. The service has been operating with a massive double-digit cut in real terms in its budget over the past 10 years, which is why it is in the position that it is in now.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is an emergency service. It requires urgent investment from the Scottish Government, not cuts. I stand with firefighters, I stand with the Fire Brigades Union and I stand with the public, and we are saying: stop the cuts.

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am a member of Unite, the union.

Today, it was announced that Newman Bonar Ltd, the company that was set up earlier this year to acquire historic Dundee textile manufacturer Bonar Yarns, is closing, risking the livelihoods of 57 workers and their families. I invite the First Minister to take this opportunity to join the provisional liquidators in asking that any party that has an interest in acquiring the business contact them. Will the First Minister join me in fighting to save those important manufacturing jobs in Dundee?

I offer my condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones and been affected by the devastating impact of storm Babet.

Unless we act, extreme weather events such as last week’s storm will become more frequent and severe, and we will continue to mourn victims of climate change around the world. However, the Scottish Government has already admitted to breaching its statutory climate duties and has already missed four of its five most recent emissions targets. Can the minister assure my constituents in the North East Scotland region that her Government will meet its next emissions reduction target?

Only two communities have applied for the right to buy neglected land since 2018, and both were unsuccessful. Proving that land has been neglected is very difficult. Communities are being blocked by overly bureaucratic processes, so what changes will the Scottish Government make to the right to buy in its upcoming land reform bill?

The offshore training passport was due to be launched by the end of this month but, with just two days to go, we are hearing reports that progress has stalled. Does the minister believe that the passport will go live in the next two days? If not, why not?

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its final energy strategy and just transition plan. (S6O-02559)

When the Scottish Government published its draft strategy, the Scottish Trades Union Congress said that workers had “little faith” in the Government’s plan. In the light of the STUC’s submission to the Government’s consultation, will the minister set out precisely what policy changes have been incorporated into the final strategy since then?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I was not able to connect. I would have voted yes.

When you say that there is a little bit more work to be done to avoid that taking place again, what kind of work are you envisioning? What kind of improvements or changes do you see as necessary?