Asked by: Clark, Katy (Scottish Labour - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether the recommendations of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Delivery Review adequately address the risks posed by climate change, including wildfires.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Service Delivery Review was carried out to ensure that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) continues to provide a high level of service by realigning service provision to meet risk and demand.
Climate related emergencies are an increasing and evolving threat and the Service Delivery Review will lead to redistribution of resources to support emerging priorities including the preventative measures needed to continue to support the increase in these emergencies, including wildfires.
Asked by: Clark, Katy (Scottish Labour - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any correlation between reports of falling firefighter numbers and increased Scottish Fire and Rescue Service incident response times.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
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.
Asked by: Burgess, Ariane (Scottish Green Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has written to local authorities to request that they introduce byelaws to set standards for seasonal agricultural worker accommodation.
Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing
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.
Asked by: Clark, Katy (Scottish Labour - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of decontamination facilities for firefighters operating in prolonged incident environments, including wildfires.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
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.
Asked by: Clark, Katy (Scottish Labour - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to fund the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's capital backlog.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Scottish Government has increased the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) capital budget by ÂŁ10.5 million in 2024-25, by ÂŁ4 million in 2025-26, and by a further ÂŁ1.4m in 2026-27, bringing the total annual budget to ÂŁ48.4 million.
The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with SFRS to identify the capital funding it needs for buildings, fleet, and equipment.
Asked by: Clark, Katy (Scottish Labour - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times, in each of the last 10 years, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has dispatched fire appliances with fewer firefighters than required to meet agreed safe crewing levels.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
This is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The information requested is not held centrally. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly.
Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Mid Scotland and Fife)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the specific timeline is for the planned research project on remand outcomes.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
There is no publication date set for the remand outcomes project because the project is in the scoping stages only.
Scottish Government (SG) analysts receive a subset of information from the records held by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to produce the Criminal Disposals Dashboard. SG analysts also receive a subset of information from the prisoner records held by Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to produce the official statistics on the prison population. On their own these datasets do not allow the tracking of outcomes in cases where individuals are held on remand.
To address this gap in analysis, SG analysts have been developing a research project to link the data in these subsets to determine outcomes in cases where the accused was held on remand during proceedings. Scoping work has revealed challenges. Individuals held on remand can have multiple charges across different criminal cases, so determining if and how the outcomes for specific charges or cases relate to time spent on remand is not straightforward.
If analysts are able to reach a suitable method for linking the data and producing meaningful outputs, notification of intent to publish will be provided here: Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot.
Asked by: Burgess, Ariane (Scottish Green Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken since May 2026 to deliver on its November 2025 commitment to create bespoke national statutory housing standards for seasonal agricultural workers.
Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing
My officials completed a scoping exercise and considered evidence on: accommodation conditions and the results of engagement with farm employers, local authorities, Scotland’s Rural College, the Workers Support Centre and the National Farmers Union of Scotland.
Following consideration of this work, the previous Cabinet Secretary for Housing wrote to COSLA on 13 March 2026 stating her expectations that local authorities should use the powers granted them to introduce byelaws suited to their areas and the specific circumstances relating to seasonal workers in their area’.
These powers are given to local authorities in Section 315 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987.
Following the letter being sent, an initial meeting took place between officials and COSLA to reiterate the Scottish Government’s expectations.
Asked by: Clark, Katy (Scottish Labour - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether the current resources available to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are adequate to respond effectively in the event of multiple large-scale and protracted wildfires occurring simultaneously.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Deployment of resources is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (SFRS). As a national service it has the ability to strategically mobilise operational capabilities from across Scotland to meet operational risk and demand.
SFRS has established specialist wildfire capabilities, including Wildfire Tactical Advisors, dedicated wildfire support assets and specialist vehicles strategically placed throughout the country and have in place defined escalation arrangements for larger incidents.
The Scottish Government is assured that the SFRS continually reviews and develops its operational capability to respond to wildfire incidents, recognising that climate change is increasing both the frequency and complexity of wildfire events in Scotland.
Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Mid Scotland and Fife)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reform post-release prescribing, in light of reports that 25% of community overdose deaths among recently released individuals occur within the first 28 days following liberation.
Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care
The Scottish Government is taking forward a range of measures aimed at improving continuity of treatment and support for people leaving prison, recognising that the period immediately following liberation carries a heightened risk of drug-related harm and overdose.
These include implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards, support for transitions between prison and community healthcare services, pre-release GP registration arrangements, and access to throughcare services that help individuals remain engaged with treatment and support following liberation.
Together, these measures are intended to support continuity of prescribing and reduce the risk of drug-related harm during the period following release from custody.