Hansard

There are some things in life that we have come to take for granted. Thanks to the struggles of previous generations, we take for granted the right to an education, a health service and decent housing. We expect our power supply to be available when we need it and we expect that in an emergency our emergency services will be there for us.

In one respect, it is good that, as a civilised society, we have high expectations; mostly, those expectations are met. However, taking things for granted should never be an excuse for ignoring or saying nothing about those whose efforts help to meet our high expectations.

Emergency services are a good example of services that we want, need and value but always hope that we will never have to use. The Scottish Government is right to pay tribute to those it describes as

“the brave and dedicated men and women of Scotland’s emergency services”.

They are there for us 24 hours a day, each and every day of the year. They do not ask for praise or recognition. They just do their job and, by God, they do it exceptionally well.

The cabinet secretary is right to mention the contribution of emergency services to the Ryder cup and the Commonwealth games. In a sense, that passes without comment, because there were no serious incidents. Unfortunately, we focus on what the emergency services do only when there is an emergency or a disaster. Tragically, such incidents happen all too often—that is sometimes through malice, neglect, accidents or the force of nature. I think back to the Lockerbie tragedy—human destruction in Scotland caused by an evil attack on a scale that we have not seen in recent times. The response from our emergency services was swift, thorough and professional, and the situation must have been harrowing for all those who had to respond.

Over the years in Glasgow, we have witnessed a number of devastating fires leading to major loss of life, including the loss of fire service personnel. It is fitting that the fire service still remembers its comrades who lost their lives. We saw again the professionalism of the fire service in the Stockline disaster, which was caused by neglect. I know that Patricia Ferguson will speak about that.

In the space of just over 12 months, Glasgow has witnessed two horrific events that will live with us for a long, long time. It was our emergency services that had to respond to the dreadful consequences of the bin lorry crash in Glasgow just before Christmas.

Just over a year ago, when the police helicopter crashed into the Clutha Vaults pub, all our emergency services responded magnificently. They worked tirelessly for three days in difficult and dangerous conditions, which included having to tunnel through rubble to help victims who were trapped at the scene. The fire service area commander Paul Connelly was right to speak of his pride following his crew’s bravery in the face of what he described as a truly harrowing scene.

It is worth repeating that all our emergency services show not just dedication and commitment but often bravery. The bravery of ambulance staff at the Clutha Vaults incident was also recognised, as was the contribution of watch manager Stuart English, based in Paisley, who normally covers my constituency. He was off duty, enjoying a night out at the Clutha. He escaped from the crash scene but went back in with members of the public to attempt to locate and rescue those who were trapped. Like other emergency workers, such people are never truly off duty; they are always ready to spring into action if required. It is also worth recognising that in those two tragedies, as well as in others, the public responded magnificently in support of our emergency services.

The tales of police officers’ bravery are legion. The police are our front-line protection in towns and cities when drunken behaviour often spills over into violence. They are there to protect the public when very occasionally a minority act violently at major events or demonstrations. The police are the ones who have to step up to the plate when lives are threatened in firearm or knife incidents. They step in when arguments get out of hand and lead to violence.

Last year saw the launch of a book called “Beyond the Call of Duty”, which features an incident that involved officers from Police Scotland. Police constables Craig McCall, Brian Manchester and Andy Kendall were attacked by a man wielding a samurai sword, and PC Craig McCall was left seriously injured.

It is not just attacks that endanger life. Last year, PC Tonianne Ewart rightly received a bravery award from the First Minister for risking her life to save the life of a man who attempted to jump from the top floor of a multistorey car park. The problem in one sense for the debate is that there are too many examples to be able to list every single act of bravery and dedication.

Let us not forget our accident and emergency staff, who have to cope with the consequences of accidents and disasters. As we know from recent press reports, they work under extremely difficult conditions. They have to cope with large numbers of patients, and the system is creaking even without any major incidents, but cope they do. Despite the pressures, they too do their best for those they serve.

It would be wrong to suggest that emergency services start and stop with the police, fire and ambulance services and with A and E. Over the past few months, we have been starkly reminded of the power of what is sometimes described as the cruel sea. The cabinet secretary mentioned this month’s loss of the cargo vessel Cemfjord, with the loss of eight crew members. That was a stark reminder of the power and danger of the sea, as were the battering that a Spanish fishing trawler took last month during the so-called weather bomb and the threat to the lives of the crew of the disabled fish carrier Norholm, which was caused by a force 7 gale in an Atlantic storm off Cape Wrath.

As is expected of them, the coastguards responded unhesitatingly, and so too did the brave volunteers of the RNLI, which operates 47 stations in Scotland. The RNLI is a voluntary organisation that depends on the public’s contributions. In all those incidents, those brave volunteers were on hand to do their bit to save lives.

The cabinet secretary has rightly commended the work of our mountain rescue services. I defer to his greater knowledge and experience, but I too pay tribute to their heroism and bravery. We have 27 volunteer teams, involving 1,000 volunteers, to back up three police teams and one Royal Air Force team. Already this month they have been in action, helping to save lives, and I have no doubt that there will be further demands on them over the winter. In the past few months we have seen the dedication of power supply workers who have battled to restore supplies in fierce weather conditions.

A common theme that runs through the stories of staff and volunteers is that of heroism, bravery, dedication and selflessness. As I said, they do not ask for praise or recognition, but I am sure that it is nice when it comes, whether through bravery awards or from us taking opportunities such as this to put our thanks on the record.

While those staff and volunteers will not ask for thanks, there is perhaps a responsibility on all of us collectively in the Parliament to reflect on and consider whether we owe them more than warm words. Do we ever give them the opportunity to come and tell us what it is really like on the front line? Why do we not give them the chance to brief the Parliament on their work, their successes and the pressures that they face? Should we not repay their dedication by saying that we will look at the resilience and resourcing of our emergency services?

The saying goes that talk is cheap. Today, we have the chance to do more than talk and offer warm words. We have the chance to say to those brave men and women not only, “Thank you and well done,” but, “Come and tell us how we can help to improve what you do. We know the outcome is that lives are saved, but we also know that, in doing that, you are putting your lives on the line, so the least we can do is listen.” What have we got to fear in listening to those fearless heroes?

That is why I have lodged an amendment that calls for a parliamentary inquiry. Let us give a voice to those brave men and women and listen to their stories. Let us pledge that we will repay their efforts by doing what we can to ensure that they are ready and equipped to face whatever is thrown at them.

I move amendment S4M-12060.2, to insert at end:

“; welcomes the cross-party support for the efforts of the emergency services but also recognises the challenges and pressures that they face and therefore commits to doing everything that it can to provide the necessary resources to enable them to do their jobs effectively; to that end, agrees to hold an inquiry into the resilience of the emergency services, including voluntary, to allow frontline staff and volunteers to have their voices heard and to explore the resources required to allow them to do their jobs effectively, and further agrees that the Justice Committee and the Health and Sport Committee should lead in relation to their respective remits.”