- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 12 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to repeal section 19 of the Fire Services Act 1947 and by what legislative means it will achieve this.
Answer
It will be a matter for the next administration in the next Parliament to decide how to improve local decision making and local accountability within the fire service.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33139 by Patricia Ferguson on 29 January 2003, why information about the number of official ministerial visits to each parliamentary constituency is not held centrally.
Answer
There is no requirement and no perceived benefit in allocating resources for collecting and holding this information centrally.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 10 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place a copy of its submission to the Bain inquiry into the fire service in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
The Scottish Executive's evidence to the Bain Review, like that of the other Devolved Administrations, was included in the evidence submitted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The review team made it clear from the outset that evidence submitted to it would be on a confidential basis but a paper entitled
Reforming Our Public Services: Principles Into Practice - The Fire Service, which was submitted to the review team, is available on the ODPM website. The web address is
http://www.safety.odpm.gov.uk/fire/dispute/index.htm
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 10 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place copies of all responses to The Scottish Fire Service of the Future in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
We can only arrange to place copies of responses in the Parliament's Reference Centre where consent has been given for the response to be made public. No such consent was sought or given in relation to this consultation document. However, we will write to those who responded and ask if they would be content to have their responses placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre and I will confirm when these are available.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 10 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the first supplementary question to question S1O-6265 by Mr Jim Wallace on 23 January 2003 (Official Report, c 17397), what the outdated practices in the fire service are.
Answer
In response to the supplementary question, the Deputy First Minister mentioned practices such as full-time firefighters not being allowed to work on the same crew as part-time firefighters and the rigid shift system. There are other examples such as the Fire Brigades Union ban on voluntary overtime and objections to sharing control rooms with other emergency services.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the standards of fire cover can be met if retained and whole-time fire crews are combined and, if so, what research it has carried out to ascertain this.
Answer
Mixed crewing of appliances could satisfy existing standards in some circumstances. Current standards of fire cover are directly related to local geographic areas and timed attendance targets. In some areas, the target response does permit the use of retained personnel, in others it would be difficult to achieve. A move to a risk assessment approach may alter the target response on the basis of professional judgement. The option of using mixed crewing could, therefore, also be reconsidered and changed.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive which recommendations from the Bain inquiry report into the fire service it intends to implement and what its timescale is for implementation.
Answer
Much of the Bain report chimes with our own consultation paper - The Scottish Fire Service of the Future - which we published on 30 April 2002. We are considering the Bain Report carefully against our policy paper in taking forward the modernisation of the Fire Service in Scotland. Equally we expect the Employers and the Fire Brigades Union to consider the issues that directly relate to their interests, in particular pay and working practices. We will be consulting with the key stakeholders in determining the timescale for implementation.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what examination it has carried out into the recommendations of the Bain inquiry report into the fire service to ensure that the standards of fire cover will continue to be achievable.
Answer
The Bain Report recommends a move to risk assessed fire cover rather than the current rigid system of response based on property and geographical area. This mirrors proposals contained in the Executive's policy consultation paper published last April. The Executive is currently considering how to take this forward to ensure that the new arrangements provide even better protection for the public.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 4 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish the draft bill on local authority governance.
Answer
We have today announced the publication of the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill. Copies of the bill have been distributed to MSPs and placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 26293). It is also available on the Scottish Executive website.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 29 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many official visits by ministers there have been to each parliamentary constituency in (a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001 and (d) 2002.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
