Chamber and committees

I met with senior personnel in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on the following occasions, since the start of this parliament:

1. a - 4 June 2026

b - Stuart Stevens, SFRS Chief Officer

2. a - 11 June 2026

b - Andy Watt, SFRS Deputy Chief Officer and David Farries, SFRS Assistant Chief Officer

The Service Delivery Review (SDR) is not a cost-saving exercise; it is a safety focussed modernisation programme designed to ensure Scotland has a fire and rescue service fit for the future and new risks.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Board approved the recommendation to create two new fire stations at Tranent in East Lothian and Cowcaddens in Glasgow, requiring a £20.074 million capital investment. Any financial savings resulting from the review, for example from removing the running costs of maintaining long-term dormant stations, will be re-invested in the service. 69 wholetime firefighters will be redirected to the essential training and prevention functions in SFRS.

The SDR consolidates the £7.8 million resources budget savings that were delivered through the temporary appliance withdrawals introduced in 2023. In addition, the appraisal identifies £42.650 million in potential future capital investment that may be avoided. This reflects a reduction in future estate investment pressures rather than a budget saving. Details of this can be found on the Board paper (link: https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/publications/document/?id=9704).

SFRS publishes Fire Safety and Organisational statistics and Incident statistics on their website https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/about/statistics/, the next edition of Incident statistics is expected on 30 October 2026. There are currently no official statistics on response times or station demand in Scotland.

SFRS continues to respond to every emergency incident with the appropriate level of resources. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's (SFRS) Operations Control rooms dynamically mobilise fire appliances based on their real-time location and availability, rather than fixed station response areas. This approach ensures that the nearest available resource is always deployed to achieve the quickest possible response time.

According to the latest Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics 2024-25, published in August 2025, the Service has 356 stations and two thirds of these stations, 240, are primarily crewed by on-call duty firefighters, and a further 42 are volunteer stations.

The Scottish Government has published a list of the Special Advisers and their specific portfolio responsibilities at: Special advisers - gov.scot

The cost of employing Special Advisers during 2026-27, including pay band information, will be published in line with the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

All of the Service Delivery Review options were subject to an equality impact assessment and an assessment of their impact on island communities by SFRS. The Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments (EHRIA) for each proposed option for change were published on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service website: SFRS Board, 20260622, Papers | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (link: https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/publications/document/?id=9704).

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of minimising unnecessary regulatory burdens on businesses while helping people with the cost of living.

We are engaging constructively with all relevant stakeholders to support informed consideration of this policy and to ensure effective implementation that delivers on our core aim of making the weekly shop more affordable.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01371 on 17 July 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01503 on 17 July 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 Government has not provided any funding for the provision of a landing slot from Dundee Airport to any London airport.

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table provides the number of people aged 65 and over who have been in prison custody in each full financial year between 2014-15 to 2025-26, this includes those who turned 65 whilst in custody.

Due to changes in data recording capabilities, we are unable to filter this data accurately to provide the figure of those over 65 on remand.