Chamber and committees

The formation of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as a single national organisation was intended to provide efficiencies through the reduction in duplication of the 8 legacy fire and rescue services. The Annual budget for SFRS has been set each year to provide the funding SFRS needs to keep communities safe.

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

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 provision of decontamination facilities is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Scottish Government is aware that the SFRS has established decontamination arrangements to support firefighters operating at prolonged incidents, including wildfires. Where local facilities are unavailable, alternative arrangements are in place to support access to decontamination facilities.

Funding in 2026-27 to procure artificial intelligence technology to support thrombectomy service expansion has been approved by the Scottish Government. Funding for future years is dependent upon the costed thrombectomy expansion model being developed by Public Serviced Delivery Scotland and will be subject to the usual financial approvals processes.

There are many causal factors influencing Operational Response Times and their change in recent years. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is supporting work being carried out by Northumbria University looking at why response times to incidents in Scotland are changing, and what this means for people and communities in Scotland. This is fundamental academic research – it is about improving the understanding of patterns and causes.

The Scottish Government has increased the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) capital budget by £10.5 million in 2024-25, by £4 million in 2025-26, and by a further £1.4m in 2026-27, bringing the total annual budget to £48.4 million.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with SFRS to identify the capital funding it needs for buildings, fleet, and equipment.

Funding in 2026-27 to procure artificial intelligence technology to support thrombectomy service expansion has been approved by the Scottish Government. There are ongoing discussions to finalise the award to a supplier.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Housing wrote to COSLA on 13 March 2026 setting out the Scottish Government’s expectations regarding use of Section 315 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 by local authorities.

Officials have discussed the Scottish Government’s expectations of local authorities with COSLA, specifically Section 315 which sets out the duty on local authorities to provide proper accommodation for seasonal workers.

The provision of appropriate firefighting kit is the responsibility of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). SFRS is committed to introducing a new generation of lightweight PPE certified for wildfire and other operational activities.

The Chief Fire Officer has provided assurances to the Scottish Government that firefighter safety is an absolute priority, that all specialist wildfire PPE and existing standard PPE in place is safe, and that the service is fully prepared and equipped to respond to wildfires.