Chamber and committees

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has made substantial progress in implementing the recommendations contained within the University of Central Lancashire report, Minimising Firefighters' Exposure to Toxic Fire Effluents.

Measures implemented include the introduction of a dedicated Fire Contaminants Standard Operating Procedure, enhanced decontamination arrangements, improvements to PPE and laundering arrangements, exposure recording processes and investment in firefighter welfare measures.

The majority of recommendations have been implemented or incorporated into ongoing programmes of work.

Further work continues in longer-term areas including health surveillance, exposure monitoring, welfare infrastructure and future estate improvements. SFRS continues to review emerging evidence and participate in research to inform future developments.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

SPS has recruited record numbers of Prison Officers in recent years to support prison estate expansion, including HMP Stirling and HMP Kilmarnock, and address increasing prisoner numbers and complexity. Targeted attraction and engagement activities have also increased workforce diversity.

For 2025-26, the turnover rate across SPS was 7.7%, which represented a 1% reduction on the previous year (2024-25). SPS has also experienced a significant reduction in leavers from prison officer roles in the early part of this financial year in comparison to previous years.

SPS monitors staff retention through regular workforce planning discussions. The Workforce Planning Management Group reviews turnover trends, reasons for leaving, and actions to improve retention, informed by workforce data and employee feedback.

The Scottish Government published the ‘Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery: Scotland's Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan’ in March 2026, which commits the Scottish Government to a long-term public health approach to reducing alcohol and drug-related harm, including the publication of an Alcohol Harm Prevention Action Plan setting out the next steps for addressing alcohol-related harm in Scotland.

Work is currently underway to develop that Plan, which will set out the next phase of action to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm. As part of this work, we will continue to assess the evidence on measures that could help reduce alcohol-related harm.

No decisions have yet been taken on specific measures, and further details will be published in due course through the Alcohol Harm Prevention Action Plan.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S7W-02604 on 7 September 2026 and S7W-02840 on 10 September 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 Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

The Scottish Prison Service reviewed its foundational training programme in 2025, informed by feedback from senior operational staff who had completed the programme. While the programme was found to have a number of strengths, opportunities were identified to further support officers transitioning into operational roles. In response, SPS is strengthening mentoring and work-based learning arrangements to help new officers apply their training effectively in practice.

The SPS continuously seeks feedback and seeks improvement in support of all training for those working in prisons.

The Scottish Government supports Ferguson Marine through the provision of parent company guarantees when these are required to support new vessel and steel fabrication contracts. Scottish shipyards can also utilise the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme delivered by UK Export Finance that provides a partial guarantee to a lender making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator, so that new vessels, or refits, retrofits or repairs of existing vessels can be procured from UK. Commercial shipyards and financial institutions in Scotland have not raised the Spanish tax lease system or the use of other international tax leasing frameworks with the Scottish Government.

Statistical information concerning wildfires and associated data collection is compiled by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (SFRS). The Service publishes two statistical bulletins annually, which are Fire Safety and Organisational Statistic and Incident Statistics.

SFRS has provided the following information on wildfires attended by year:

Wildfires attended by year

The Scottish Government has today published its response to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 3 report. The Covid-19 pandemic touched every community and every family in Scotland in different ways. For many, it brought profound loss, separation, uncertainty and hardship. The Scottish Government extends its deepest sympathy to everyone who lost loved ones and to all those whose lives were impacted by the pandemic.

I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the Inquiry, including those who shared difficult and personal experiences. I also want to acknowledge the vital work of the Covid Inquiries Response Engagement Group, whose input to the response has been invaluable. The insights shared by representatives of groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, including bereaved families, disabled people, minority ethnic communities, older people and others most affected by the pandemic have shaped our response.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude for the sacrifices made throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and for the extraordinary dedication of the health and social care workforce. Their professionalism, compassion and resilience were especially evident in the care provided to those most vulnerable during an exceptionally difficult period.

The Scottish Government remains committed to taking forward the actions and timelines for implementation set out in this response, and to doing so in a way that recognises and respects the many sacrifices made by the public health workforce during the pandemic to protect our healthcare system, and the loved ones lost during the pandemic.

The Scottish Government will provide regular progress updates on the actions set out within the response. The response is available at: UK Covid-19 Inquiry - Module 3 report: Scottish Government response

Both the Prison IT healthcare system and GP IT systems will use the same Vision system that is due to complete Scotland wide rollout for all GP Practices by mid-2027. This will enable potential future integration and sharing of information between Prison Healthcare staff and GP Practice staff, which will be considered by the NHS led programme boards for these systems.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

As confirmed in the recent letter to the Criminal Justice Committee, as of 3 September 2026, SPS employed 4009 operational (frontline) staff, equating to 3797.09 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts.

(a) 3442.18 FTE Operational staff were available for duty.

(b) SPS does not currently record information on the number of Prison Officers undertaking roles with reasonable adjustments or restricted duties. SPS is reviewing its workforce data arrangements to consider how this information could be captured and reported in the future.

(c) 354.91 FTE prison officers were unavailable for operational duty. This includes absences due to sickness, parental leave, suspension, special leave, other authorised absences, and staff temporarily undertaking non-frontline roles.