Chamber and committees

Training standards that are applicableto New Dimension are the same across the UK. Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) personnel havebeen trained to those recognised standards and in some areas of Urban Search andRescue to a more enhanced level.

The deployment arrangements inScotland for any new dimension event or similar major incident involve the provisionof suitably trained and competent personnel being simultaneously deployed with theappropriate vehicles and standardised equipment.

The New Dimension strategy inScotland involves all eight Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) who have undertaken aspart of a Scottish-wide Mutual Aid arrangement to support any major incident occurringin Scotland. The present Scottish Mutual Aid agreement also covers Scottish FRSproviding support across the remainder of the UK subject to the prevailing demandsat the time of the request. As part of these arrangements, the Chief Fire Officers’Association Scotland are leading in the development of a Scottish Resource Co-ordinatingCentre which will link our Scottish resources into the English co-ordinating centrecurrently located in West Yorkshire FRS.

The New Dimension programme inScotland has been developed in full collaboration with all eight Fire and RescueServices (FRS). Its aim is to enhance day-to-day capability across all eight FRSby increasing their level of capability and resilience with the necessary resourcesand training to meet any likely event. In line with this strategy, the FRSs in Scotland undertookwhere appropriate to integrate these new resources into their existing establishmentlevels.

The objective of the New Dimensionprogramme in Scotland is to enhance the resilience of the Fire and Rescue Services(FRS) and their capability to deal collectively with catastrophic incidents as wellas the more frequently occurring major incidents and natural disasters that requirespecialist equipment and trained personnel.

National risk assessment andplanning guidance developed by a joint Chief Fire Officers’ Association workinggroup that also involved the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the HMFire Inspectorates in Scotland and England was issued to all FRS in 2002 to supportthis work.

The enhanced New Dimension capabilityand resilience arrangements for Scotland involve all eight Fire and Rescue Servicesin line with the original project strategy approved by ministers and supported bythe initial £5 million additional funding that was announced in February 2002 bythe then Justice Minister Jim Wallace. This strategy continues to be supported andfunded by the Scottish Executive.

The Scottish Executive providedthe initial funding in 2002 to support additional capability and resilience in boththe areas of Mass Decontamination and Specialist Rescue, whilst the original fundingprovided in England and Wales during this period by the then Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions,was dedicated to developing only a mass decontamination capability. Consequentlythe Scottish programme was able to progress ahead of the rest of the UK and this includedthe procurement of all the specialist rescue equipment and the initial vehiclesin accordance with the agreed strategy which was then delivered in advance of thesubsequent ODPM programme.

The Scottish Executive in collaborationwith the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have to date funded 13 new vehicles aspart of the New Dimension programme.

The Scottish Executive fundsthe centralised training for all Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) urban searchand rescue (USAR) technicians and USAR operators. To the present date a total of90 FRS personnel have been trained to USAR Technician standard and 450 to USAR Operatorlevel.

Additionally, the Executive supports,through central funding, the enhanced continuation training course at Mines Rescuein Fife for all FRS USAR personnel and currently around 125 personnel have attendedthis course.

The actual number of these personnelon duty and available each day is a matter for each individual FRS to determine.

The Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency (SEPA) will undertake a prioritised review of authorisations underthe Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 startingin late 2006. It is an operational matter for SEPA to determine how to undertakethese reviews.

The information requested isnot held centrally.