Meeting of the Parliament 17 June 2026 [Last updated 15:26]
I reiterate that those decisions are operational matters for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The day shift duty system is not a new concept; it is already being operated in Livingston and at multiple other locations across the United Kingdom. There are challenges with on-call firefighter recruitment and retention that are caused by demographic changes, particularly in rural and island areas. The SFRS has concluded that availability at night and at weekends is much better and that there tend to be particular difficulties during the day, which is because people no longer live and work in the same location. That is why having whole-time firefighters working during the day, which is also when the majority of incidents occur, is a viable and sensible solution.