Chamber and committees

The safety of those in our communities is paramount for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service decision to temporarily remove these appliances was made following detailed modelling using historic incident data and a robust assessment of the risks present in the communities those fire stations cover. SFRS will continue to respond to every incident in Scotland with the appropriate level of resources

SFRS was formed in April 2013 and the Resource budget for its first year of operations in 2013-14 was £277.23 million. Adjusting that figure using the ONS annual inflation figures for CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs) means the equivalent annual budget for 2023-24 would be £340.185m.

The SFRS Capital budget for 2013-14 was £15.292m. Using the same adjustments means the equivalent annual budget for 2023-24 would be £18.765m.

The non-fiscal element of the SFRS budget has not been included for the comparison of the impact of inflation. Whilst this element is included in the total budget allocated to SFRS each year, the amount is allocated on the basis of actual cost to SFRS to cover accounting elements such as depreciation. As such, this element of the SFRS budget is not subject to inflationary pressures.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service decision to temporarily remove these appliances was made following detailed modelling using historic incident data and a robust assessment of the risks present in the communities those fire stations cover. Withdrawal of the second or third appliances from these stations has been assessed as being the least impactful in terms of response times. SFRS will continue to respond to every incident with the appropriate level of resources including specialist resources where required.

The capital budget allocations to SFRS for each year since its establishment are as follows (in £ millions):

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of people held in police custody suites in Scotland.

The Scottish Government and National Records of Scotland do not hold this information. The Home Office publish equivalent figures for the UK, but they are not broken down to individual countries. The latest published data for the UK , from the Home Office, is for the year ending March 2023.

The UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill does not currently have legal effect. The Scottish Government has made clear our position that this cruel and inhumane Illegal Migration Bill should be scrapped immediately and will cause significant harm to victims of human trafficking. It will facilitate even greater control by perpetrators as a consequence of its provisions which restrict access to vital support and assistance and will likely deter victims from reporting their situation for fear of removal.

The Scottish Parliament rejected the UK Bill during a debate on 25 April. We set out our intent to lodge a legislative consent memorandum on two clauses within the Bill which alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers. We will recommend that Parliament withhold legislative consent to these provisions. We continue to monitor the Bill closely as it is considered by the House of Lords.

The Police Negotiating Board (PNB) ‘Staff Side' have submitted a pay claim for 2023/24 which contains a request for future pay to be linked to an average pay index. As the PNB process is currently ongoing in relation to the police officer pay claim and in line with PNB protocols, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this time.

The Scottish Government are part of the PNB ‘Official Side’ alongside the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland.

Since 1 April 2018, support for victims of offences under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 has been placed on a statutory footing.

Statutory support is delivered through grant awards from the Victim Centred Approach Fund to the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) and Migrant Help. Support may be provided for up to 90 days, or longer in some circumstances, and can include accommodation, assistance with day to day living, medical advice and treatment including psychological help, language translation and interpretation, counselling, legal advice, help accessing other services and, if the victim wishes, repatriation.

Case assessment is part of the ongoing support function carried out by TARA and Migrant Help and as such the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

In the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, 221 individuals moved from Scottish Government-funded accommodation to Home Office asylum accommodation.

The Scottish Government does not hold sufficient data to provide the remaining information requested. This information may be held by operational partners.

Duties relating to secure transport lie principally with the local authority responsible for the child’s placement. Information is not held centrally on these arrangements or the use of handcuffs.

A sub-group of the National Secure Care Group is developing a service specification that can be used consistently by local authorities and sets out the principles and standards wherever secure transport requires to be commissioned. It covers areas such as data gathering and staff training and prohibits the use of mechanical restraints or handcuffs.

The Scottish Government has a contract with GEOAmey to provide secure transport for children convicted on indictment and given a custodial sentence. GEOAmey must ensure that the child being transported, staff and the general public are protected by robust arrangements throughout each journey, including the prevention of escape. Multi-purpose vehicles are used to escort children, rather than the prison vans used to transport adult prisoners. Because of this, handcuffs are used for each journey.