Meeting of the Parliament 01 October 2025 [Draft]
I thank Katy Clark for lodging the motion for debate, which provides an opportunity to highlight the central role that the fire service plays in protecting communities across Scotland and making them safer and more resilient. I join other members in paying tribute to all firefighters and staff across the country.
The debate comes on the back of stark warnings from the SFRS about the threat of wildfires, and as communities across the Highlands and Islands come to terms with the devastating impact of the wildfires that we have seen over the summer, so it feels particularly timely. As other members have suggested, proposals for the potential closure of 13 fire stations and the permanent withdrawal of 10 appliances are deeply concerning, not least for the workforce. We have been absolutely clear about the potential impact that those staff reductions will have.
The statistics for the period since 2013 are stark, too. There has been a 16 per cent reduction in uniformed staff, with 1,250 fewer firefighters working across Scotland. As a direct result, crews often do not meet safe staffing requirements, meaning that they cannot respond to calls, which, ultimately, and inevitably, leads to call times increasing, as we have seen.
Katy Clark is right that every second counts in an emergency, and that increases in average response times risk lives. In that context, the further cuts that are proposed to firefighter numbers and resource capacity seem untenable. Those cuts are also having an effect on the provision of training. As one firefighter put it in the “Firestorm” report, the public
“envisage a fully equipped, fully trained Service sending the requisite number of firefighters to any emergency situation ... The reality is poorly trained, poorly equipped firefighters who are sick of trying their utmost to carry out their duties against a background of cuts and a lack of training and support.”
Of course, maintaining community safety looks different in different parts of the country—a point that Rachael Hamilton made. In rural and island communities, the vast majority of stations are staffed on an on-call basis by retained crew. However, many of the retained stations across the Highlands and Islands face severe challenges in recruitment and retention. As Rhoda Grant highlighted, only 10 out of 125 fire stations across the region are fully staffed. In Orkney only 10 are fully staffed, and in Shetland none at all. In recent years, stations in Hoy, Eday and North Ronaldsay have had less than half a full complement of staff. That sees crews being taken off the run, which impacts on communities’ resilience.
Meanwhile, statistics published by SFRS suggest that fire casualties are higher in rural and island areas. That cannot be any coincidence. If we are serious about ensuring the safety of communities across Scotland, we must get serious about training, staffing and resourcing our fire service, not least in those rural and island communities.
As an aside, from my perspective, community safety extends to enabling others who require fire training to be able to undertake it. The upgrade in facilities at Kirkwall airport, for which I campaigned over many years, has undoubtedly delivered huge benefits, not least in reducing the need for fire crew members to leave Orkney for training. I understand from a recent meeting at Orkney College, however, that there are currently problems with local merchant seafarers getting the fire training that they need in the islands.
With greater use of indoor simulators, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has raised concerns about the reduced access to real fire conditions as part of the course. MCA representatives are due in Orkney soon, and I hope that an agreement can be reached between the MCA, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and Orkney College so that merchant seafarers can, again, get the access to fire safety training that they need without the additional cost, time and inconvenience of having to travel to the Scottish mainland.
In the meantime, I again thank Katy Clark and confirm that the Scottish Liberal Democrats will support both her motion and the amendment in Sharon Dowey’s name.