Bill Fitzpatrick has touched on my point about outcomes. Going back to John Swinney’s last question, he mentioned figures for youth justice and the lower number of youths in custody, but I certainly get a lot more complaints in my inbox about the rise in antisocial behaviour and crime on the streets. It seems that the police say that their hands are tied in the action that they can take. What role would community justice have there? What action needs to be taken? Where are we failing in that respect? We say we have good measurements because we have fewer youths in custody, but crime out on the street seems to be on the rise. As far as outcomes go, that is not a good outcome.

No, but it was about focusing the resources that you have on the right areas.

Okay. I go back to Bill Fitzpatrick’s point. Some of the organisations need to give us more evidence on the outcomes.

I thank Katy Clark for bringing the debate to the chamber. We owe our gratitude to the brave emergency workers who put their lives on the line to protect us. When incidents such as the recent blaze at Ayr Station hotel occur, firefighters step up to keep us from harm. They deserve our thanks, and as much support as possible from the Scottish Government—[Interruption.]

I was pleased to meet firefighters locally at both Ardrossan and Ayr stations to talk to them about the work that they do, to offer my support and to make sure they know how valued they are. The fire at Ayr Station hotel was just one incident in which Scotland’s fire service came to save the day, but there are so many others happening all the time, from house fires to road traffic accidents and industrial incidents.

We can only imagine how much worse those situations could turn out if we did not have such brave front-line officers, if there were not enough of them, if they did not have the equipment that they need, if they had to wait for specialist appliances to come from far away, or if they were operating out of crumbling stations. Unfortunately, we do not have to imagine those situations, because they are happening right now. SNP cuts have left Scotland’s fire service on its knees. People do not have to take my word for that—they just need to read the recent “Firestorm” report.

Response times to incidents will inevitably get worse. Why? Because firefighters no longer have the resources that they need. The recent “Firestorm” report from the Fire Brigades Union revealed a service in “crisis.” It found that we are already down 1,200 firefighters under the SNP.

The Scottish Government has the biggest block grant that it has ever had. Where it wants to spend that money is its political choice. When we are doing the budget, we will need to ensure that the fire service is suitably funded.

In the next few years, the service could lose nearly 800 more jobs. We hear a lot of comparisons between Scotland and the rest of the UK but, as the FBU pointed out,

“The FM’s comments regarding firefighters per head of population fails to recognise the divergence of risk across the home nations. In 2021-22, which is the latest data set, Scotland suffered 5,068 fires per million of population, a significantly higher level of fire incidence than Wales at 3,456, and England at 2,702.”

A decade of underinvestment means that it would now cost £800 million to bring stations and the wider infrastructure up to the required standard. The FBU report found that morale is at a terrible level as firefighters struggle to cope with the scale of the SNP cuts. Firefighters are dealing with the consequences of that in their daily work, but we could all easily suffer the consequences of those cuts. Any one of us could be trapped in a nightmare situation and need their help. We do not often think that those things will happen but, when they do, we all want to know that the fire service will be there to protect us, that there will be enough firefighters with the resources and equipment to ensure our safety, and that they will reach us quickly.

If the SNP keep on this path of cutting fire service budgets every year, there is no doubt that it will increase the risk to public safety. No matter the amazing efforts that firefighters go to, such cuts will increase the danger of accidents and unfortunate incidents. I urge the SNP Government to think again and reverse the cuts, give firefighters the support that they deserve, invest in the service so that it can be there to protect people when trouble strikes, put public safety high on the agenda, and make sure that, in an emergency, our front-line services can respond swiftly.

Okay—thanks.

Okay. Thank you.

Have you had the opportunity to consider the SFC’s new funding distribution model and guidance for the 2023-24 academic year? If so, can you provide us with any further details on that?

Okay. Paragraph 30 of the briefing paper says:

“While recognising the role of college leadership teams in managing their finances, it is also critical for the Scottish Government to work with the SFC during AY 2023-24 to support colleges in planning for change now and making best use of available funding.”

Is there any evidence to demonstrate that the Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Funding Council to support colleges?