Chamber and committees

Yes, we are back to me, convener.

Alex, you mentioned pay. Can you give us an update on the current status of pay negotiations with the trade unions?

That is very disappointing to hear. Strike action that results in loss of take-home pay for workers is always a last resort. That is a pretty desperate place to be, with the cost of living crisis.

It is worth going over some of the things that the unions have said in the past couple of weeks. Some of the comments predate the ACAS meeting, but let us get them on the record.

Unison said that there has been no meaningful engagement with Scottish Water bosses—which I guess is the people in front of us just now—that there has been a withholding of information from trade unions, and that

“there is a feeling amongst members that Scottish Water bosses are behaving like Victorian Mill owners”.

Those are serious statements.

The GMB says that Scottish Water is acting like a “rogue employer”. It also said:

“It has been astonishing to watch and a masterclass in how to demolish good and productive industrial relations.”

I could continue with more quotations. All that is pretty damning, is it not?

Some of the complaints that we hear are about examples of human waste being overflowed into rivers and on to beaches, even when the system is not under abnormal stress. We have heard about some of the good performance and benchmarking compared with other parts of Britain, but for people in Scotland right now, is there an acceptable level of human waste that could be overflowed in that way? What is an acceptable level to Scottish Water?

That was just an example. You mentioned wind, so do you want to expand on that? What do you think the opportunities might be there?

That is helpful. I have a final question, and I will stick with you, Jimmy. You mentioned KPIs. What metrics and KPIs do you use in assessing investments to support the transition to a circular economy? You just talked about supply chains. Do you look systematically across the supply chain of a project? Does that include looking at things such as the ethical extraction of virgin resources, embodied carbon, biodiversity impact and the circularity of resources? Are you confident that your investment criteria are robust enough to avoid any harm in those areas?

That was helpful. Before I forget the number, you mentioned that overflows are 91 per cent rainwater, but I am not sure what the total volume is. Can you tell us the volume of human waste that is overflowed?

I am not a union negotiator. Given what we have heard about your annual report and your performance—

To build on that, can you say a little more about the key opportunities to integrate circular economy principles across your missions of net zero, improving places and harnessing innovation? Will you look at circular economy principles when you are investing in housing, energy projects or technology, for example?

I am grateful to my Scottish Labour colleague Katy Clark for securing this debate. From listening to Ms Clark and other speakers, it is very clear why the debate is so necessary.

I am also grateful to Maggie Chapman for hosting last week’s FBU Scotland event, which launched the “Firestorm” report. For me, “Firestorm” is more than a report; it is a call to action, and Government must act. The truth is that firefighters do not feel supported or valued. Scotland’s firefighters feel abandoned and ignored. After last week’s First Minister’s question time, I fear that they will feel more frustrated than ever.

To recap, last week, hundreds of firefighters, FBU members and other supporters gathered outside the Parliament and demanded that MSPs and ministers listen to them, understand and act. Instead, we heard in the chamber the same predictable spin from the First Minister. We need honesty, because the cuts are costing lives.

The reality is that there has been £57 million of real-terms cuts since 2012-13; 1,200 firefighter jobs have been scrapped; response times have increased; five control rooms have been closed; and an increasing number of fire appliances are unavailable. I am glad that the “Firestorm” report has been published, because that is not the voices of ministers or MSPs; it is the voice of serving FBU Scotland members. I urge all colleagues to read it, because it is about a menu of cuts, lack of recruitment, crisis in retained service, decline in training standards, and the necessity of responding to the climate emergency. All that and more has created the perfect conditions for a devastating firestorm.

Like colleagues, I am here because the issue is affecting constituents in my local community now. Mercedes Villalba talked about Dundee; in my case, it is about Hamilton, where we have lost our temporary appliance. We do not know when we will get it back, and that is having an impact on crews and their families right now—Richard Leonard can also speak to that. We had a devastating fire in East Kilbride recently—six homes have been destroyed and six families have been put at the heart of this issue. Luckily, no lives were lost, but we have heard that the cuts have had an impact on response times, so public safety is being compromised.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is not well equipped to respond to the demands of the climate emergency. Our firefighters need appropriate personal protective equipment and other equipment and training to tackle wildfires. We need to expand capacity to deal with the predicted increase in flooding incidents. The capital budget must be increased significantly if the service is to meet the demands of net zero targets.

I know that members of the FBU are proud of the work that they do, but are they proud of us? I do not think so. There should be no ifs, no buts and no more fire service cuts.

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any link between nutrition and behaviour in its work to address violence in schools. (S6O-02635)