Chamber and committees

Preventing fires is the most effective and least costly way to protect communities, businesses, infrastructure and nature from their devastating impacts. Prevention is a core component of the service provided by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

SFRS continues to evaluate outcomes from the Rural Risk Project, which was launched in the Highlands, South Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway in partnership with the National Farmers Union (NFU) and Police Scotland in 2016, while engaging with industry partners to identify innovative technologies, enhance operational effectiveness, and support farm fire safety and risk reduction.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) launched a prevention and awareness communications campaign on 5 March 2026 to raise public awareness of wildfire risk and discourage risky outdoor behaviours. During periods of heightened wildfire risk, SFRS works closely with public authorities and land managers to ensure that clear and consistent public messaging on wildfire risk is conveyed to local communities in a timely and effective way.

Local authorities, National Park authorities and public bodies proactively promote responsible outdoor behaviour through signage, education and communications, their use of by-laws to ban fires and barbecues in certain months, and camping management zones.

The investigation of crime is an operational matter for Police Scotland, who are operationally independent of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government does not hold information about the number of Police Scotland investigations into alleged criminal offences relating to the recruitment or control of people for the purpose of sexual exploitation committed using social medial platforms or messaging applications.

Regarding the question of whether existing legislation is sufficient to address such activity, I refer the member to the answer to PQ S7W-04486 on 3 November 2026.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service responds to all fire incidents across Scotland with the appropriate level of resources.

The Scottish Government provided SFRS with £435.96 million budget for 2026-27, an increase of £23.8m, showing our continued commitment to support the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to deliver the high standard of services required to keep Scotland safe.

Fire and rescue cover is provided to most rural areas in Scotland through on-call firefighters. The Scottish Government is grateful to the essential work undertaken by these firefighters often in addition to their main employment. The SFRS Service Delivery Review is intended to ensure that the right resources are in the right place across Scotland and that includes enhancing on-call cover in rural areas.

An Executive Agency of the Scottish Government (SG), The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has the responsibility for the development and implementation of strategies and policies to support those in their care.

SPS continue to work closely with NHS Prison Healthcare teams to address the diverse health and social care needs of all those in custody, including participation in an SG led multi-partner strategic group to review and amend the delivery of health and social care in prisons.

Although in the early stages, SPS and NHS are now considering a formalised approach to support the wider needs of older adults in custody, in particular those considered frail and those with long term health conditions in Scottish Prisons.

The Scottish Government has not had any such discussions. A decision on whether every officer would be trained in the use of Taser and any associated timeline is an operational matter for the chief constable.

There are currently 2126 Specially Trained Officers (STOs) trained in the use of Taser but this number can fluctuate for a variety of reasons such as sick leave. There are also 641 Tasers available for STOs.

It is an offence at section 1 of the Human Trafficking (Scotland) Act 2015 to recruit, transport or transfer, harbour or receive, exchange or transfer control over another person, or arrange or facilitate any of those actions, with a view to their being exploited.

Exploitation includes slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour, prostitution and sexual exploitation, the removal of organs and the use of force, threats or deception to induce the person to provide services of any kind, to provide another person with benefits of any kind or to enable a person to acquire benefits of any kind.

It is an offence at section 1 of the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 for a person who has met or communicated with a child under the age of 16 on at least one earlier occasion to intentionally meet the child, travel with the intention of meeting the child or arrange for the child to travel with the intention of meeting them with the intention of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with or in the presence of that child (this is often referred to as a 'grooming' offence).

These offences can be committed where the communication or contact occurs through social media or messaging platforms in the same way as where any other means is used.

Depending on the facts and circumstances of the particular case, there are a range of other criminal offences that may be committed by a person who uses social media and messaging platforms to contact any person with the intent either of committing a criminal offence against them or seeking to involve them in criminal activity.

The Scottish Government keeps the law under continual review to ensure that it remains effective.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on procurement expenditure awarded to firms headquartered in Scotland. However, using data published in the “Annual Report on Procurement Activity in Scotland”, the proportion of the total public sector procurement spend with suppliers with a Scottish registered invoice address in each of the last five financial years, where the data is available, is set out in Table A. This data is derived from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, Scottish Government’s spend analytics shared service, which captures data from over 100 public sector organisations. Further breakdowns from this source are available in the Scottish public sector procurement spend 2023 to 2024 report.

The Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) (OPG), forms part of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). The SCTS operates entirely independently of the Scottish Government, and all operational decisions are the responsibility of the SCTS Board under the leadership of the Lord President.

While the Scottish Government does not have a role in operational decision making, it continues to support SCTS through funding. The 2026–2027 Budget includes increased resource funding to help ease system pressures and support ongoing service improvement and modernisation. Decisions on any further funding, including for the continued development of systems and services such as those provided by the OPG, will fall to Parliament as part of any future spending considerations.

The OPG has increased its processing capacity through additional staff, overtime and digital modernisation. The latest case-management enhancement went live on 16 September 2026, addressing significant issues affecting changes of circumstances for Powers of Attorney. The immediate priority is to sustain registrations above incoming demand and translate increased output into continuing reductions in the outstanding caseload and waiting times.

The timescale for significant improvement will depend on how these changes operate in practice, alongside the continued rise in operational demand. SCTS has therefore advised that it is not possible to provide a definitive date for a return to previous processing times.

Fires can have devastating consequences for farming and crofting businesses, resulting in the loss of livestock, buildings, machinery and livelihoods. The Scottish Government takes these risks seriously. We will continue to work with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, industry bodies and the wider agricultural sector to improve understanding of the factors contributing to farm fires and to promote practical measures that can reduce risk.

Through the Farm Advisory Service and wider knowledge transfer activity, we support farmers and crofters to strengthen business resilience, improve risk management and adopt good practice. This includes encouraging robust fire prevention measures, appropriate maintenance of equipment and electrical systems, and effective contingency planning.

A resilient agricultural sector is essential to Scotland's rural economy, and we will continue to support actions that help protect farming and crofting businesses from avoidable risks and disruption.

The Scottish Government has not provided funding to HOPE not hate in this financial year or the previous financial year.