Chamber and committees

Paternity leave is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and is negotiated through the National Joint Council for firefighters or through Staff representative bodies for non-uniformed staff. There are a number of policies available for employees including parental leave and shared parental leave, designed to provide support to employees.

The terms and conditions of firefighters are negotiated on a UK wide basis through the National Joint Council. The Fire Brigades Union is the largest staff representative body at those negotiations and that is the appropriate avenue to change pay and conditions for firefighters. The Scottish Government is not part of those negotiations as that is rightly a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer.

With regard to farmed fish escapes, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37451 on 16 May 2025 regarding escapes. 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.

Regarding mortality, in correspondence dated 13 March 2025 to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (RAIC), I committed to analysing data to understand how sites with persistent high mortality manifest, if mortality incidents are related and are indicative of insufficient mitigating action by the producer. I will provide an update on this to the RAIC later this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37570 on 16 May 2025. 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.

This is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The information requested is not held centrally.

The pay and conditions of firefighters are negotiated through well-established collective bargaining arrangements at a UK wide level. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Maternity Policy provides maternity leave for 26 weeks at full pay and 13 weeks at Statutory Maternity Pay in line with the current terms and conditions agreed at the National Joint Council.

SFRS is committed to the national collective bargaining arrangements for the sector and therefore this remains the Service's preferred route to agree changes to terms and conditions.

As SFRS is complying in full with the terms and conditions negotiated with trade unions in 2024, it is compatible with its commitment to fair work.

Recruitment and retention of firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The Scottish Government endeavours to provide information in response to requests wherever possible. The provisions of section 29(1)(a) (formulation or development of government policy) or other exemptions under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) should only be applied in order to withhold information where necessary, in the public interest.

Anyone who has made a request for information has the right to ask the Scottish Government to carry out a review if they have concerns about the handling of their request. The Scottish Government has a statutory obligation to carry out such a review and provide a further response to the requester within 20 working days. The review will be carried out by a Scottish Government official who was not involved in the decision-making process for the original request, and who can therefore consider afresh any matters of concern raised by the requester - including whether exemptions from disclosure have been appropriately applied. Following the review, the requester has the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision on their request, if they remain dissatisfied.

Outside of the statutory process for individual reviews described above, there is no requirement for the Scottish Government to proactively revisit FOI responses previously issued to see if the sensitivity of information has changed over time in a way which would mean exemptions no longer apply. As the Scottish Government responds to over 5,000 requests per year, it would be impractical to do so.

However, the Scottish Government is also committed to making information about all areas of its work proactively available, for example through its frequent planned publications on the Scottish Government website.

The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.

The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.