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Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 28, 2025


Contents


Storm Éowyn

The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone)

The next item of business is a statement by Angela Constance on the response to storm Éowyn. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.

14:12  

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs (Angela Constance)

I am grateful for the opportunity to update Parliament on the exceptional weather that Scotland experienced last week during storm Éowyn. I begin by expressing condolences to the families and friends of those who have died or been injured as a result of incidents during the storm. I also extend my sympathy to those who have experienced disruption or damage to their businesses and homes as a consequence of the storm.

On Tuesday 21 January, the Met Office announced the likely arrival of storm Éowyn and predicted disruption for the following Friday and Saturday. By Thursday 23 January, its forecast confidence had increased, and it took the serious step of issuing a red warning for wind that covered the central belt and southern Scotland. Red weather warnings are very rarely issued and signify not only the high likelihood of severe damage and disruption but a significant threat to life. Amber warnings for wind covered the remainder of the country, which underlined the scale of the high winds.

The Scottish Government and front-line agencies across Scotland took the threat extremely seriously. Emergency planning and resilience structures were activated across Scotland, including the Scottish Government resilience room and the Transport Scotland resilience room. Scotland’s responders, including emergency services, local authorities and utility companies, quickly mobilised staff to respond to the impacts of the storm.

Ministerial meetings of the Scottish Government resilience room were held daily from Thursday to Monday, and the Cabinet discussed the storm this morning. Ministers continue to receive regular updates on the incident recovery work, including the restoration of power and the recovery of transport services. In addition, on Saturday 25 January, the First Minister joined a ministerial COBRA meeting to discuss the impacts of storm Éowyn across the United Kingdom.

Public advice was issued to support the public in planning for the storm and taking steps to stay safe. Police Scotland issued clear advice to the public not to travel during the storm. We worked quickly with the Met Office, the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to activate the new emergency alerts capability for the first time in Scotland since its launch, and we also activated the Scottish Government’s Ready Scotland campaign. I am grateful to both the Met Office and Police Scotland for issuing those early and clear warnings, and to the public, who, in following that advice, helped to mitigate significantly the damage that the storm might otherwise have caused. To put it simply, people have, by following the guidance to stay at home, prevented further loss of life.

However, no amount of warning could prevent significant damage and disruption from a storm of this scale. Storm Éowyn and other recent weather events at home and abroad are symptoms of the warming world to which we are now adapting. I echo the First Minister’s comments over the weekend that the

“ferocity”

of

“climate change is with us”.

We also know that such trends are locked in. To prepare Scotland for the changing climate, we must therefore bring climate resilience to the heart of decision making across the nation.

The Met Office has called storm Éowyn “probably the strongest storm” to hit the UK for a decade, with gusts of wind exceeding 100mph. The entirety of Scotland was covered by weather warnings on Friday, and we saw widespread impacts across the country. A total of 92 per cent of the school estate in Scotland was closed and all rail, bus and ferry services were cancelled. There were significant impacts across the road network, including fallen trees and power cables, overturned heavy goods vehicles and road traffic collisions.

However, Transport Scotland reports that, during the red alert period, traffic volumes dropped by 80 per cent. The public listened to and followed the important advice that Police Scotland issued.

At the worst point, more than 130,000 people were reported to be without power. The weather itself meant that it was not always safe to carry out repairs, and front-line agencies established a number of welfare centres to support the most vulnerable. As of the latest update, at noon today, 2,538 customers remain off power.

Throughout that response, our health and social care partnerships worked hard, hand in hand with the utility companies, to support the most vulnerable individuals, by targeting resources to reinstate power to care homes and vulnerable individuals as soon as possible. I thank them for their on-going efforts, and I recognise the people in our communities who came together to support vulnerable friends, family and neighbours.

The trunk road and motorway network has fully recovered following storm Éowyn; however, there is a risk of secondary impacts around weakened trees that may come down and debris that may still get into drainage systems, which could lead to further localised disruption until the clear-up is complete.

Health and social care services were impacted, with non-essential care packages suspended during the red warning and some non-urgent patient appointments cancelled on Friday, which are being rescheduled. Thanks to the excellent work and dedication of the staff who provide health, social care and social work services in our hospitals and communities, as well as the efforts of unpaid carers and the third and independent sectors, there was no significant impact on patient care, and services are returning to normal. Forth Valley royal hospital was subject to a storm-related power outage on Friday afternoon and was without mains power for approximately one hour. Thanks to the efforts of the health board and the power company, the situation was quickly resolved and no patient harm was identified.

However, we are still in the process of recovery, and the impacts of the storm continue to be felt, and may continue to be felt in the coming days and weeks. More than 2,500 customers in Scotland remain without power, and although power companies are working hard towards restoration, the extreme damage that was caused by storm Éowyn means that the task is very complex. Although power companies were able to make quick wins in the early period of recovery and restore power to thousands of customers at a time, they are now dealing with some of the most challenging and remote issues.

Recovery operations have continued on the rail network, as Scotland’s railway recovers from more than 500 incidents associated with the storm. ScotRail and Network Rail are working to reopen lines as quickly and safely as possible, with services having been reinstated overnight on the lines to Ayr, Balloch and Paisley Canal. By tomorrow, it is anticipated that the lines to Largs, Wemyss Bay and Gourock will be reopened, that the landslip at Hamilton will be cleared and that services to Larkhall will resume. Earlier today, 73 per cent of services were operating, and that figure will increase as routes reopen.

Many schools suffered damage to infrastructure, to varying degrees, as well as a loss of power. However, 99 per cent of schools across Scotland were able to reopen as usual yesterday. Remedial works are on-going, and 16 schools and six local authority early learning and childcare settings remained closed this morning. I do not underestimate the impact that the disruption has had on families and staff.

This has been, and continues to be, an extremely complex and protracted incident. Every business, home and individual was affected by an amber or red weather warning. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the organisations and individuals who are working tirelessly to restore normality to people’s homes and lives. I pay tribute to the work that our responder and voluntary organisations undertake to protect the public from such emergencies. We must continue to work together to ensure that Scotland remains prepared to withstand future storms that come our way.

The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues that were raised in her statement. I intend to allow about 20 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business.

Finlay Carson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. I put on record that our sympathy is with those who have lost a loved one or have been injured as a result of the storm. [Interruption.]

I apologise, Mr Carson, but could you wait a moment until that phone has stopped ringing?

Do continue.

Finlay Carson

Storm Éowyn has left a profound impact on our communities, particularly in rural areas, which merited little or no mention in the Government’s statement. Sadly, that is what we in rural areas have come to expect.

The storm caused unprecedented damage and left thousands of people without power, water and essential services. I thank Scottish Power Energy Networks for the support that it has given me and colleagues across the chamber in helping the most vulnerable in our communities. We have gone from more than 200,000 households being without electricity at the peak of the problem to fewer than 1,000 today, and I know that engineers are pushing hard to get as many households as possible, if not all of them, back on the grid today. That is a fantastic effort from engineers from across the UK, who are working in very challenging conditions.

Much of the storm’s impact, which equates to 100 days of damage in less than three days, was in my constituency and across Dumfries and Galloway, where more than 51,000 homes were without power. I thank the local authority, the police, other emergency services and groups of volunteer resilience workers—such as Hazel Smith and her team in Whithorn—for their amazing work to ensure the safety of everyone in the most badly affected areas.

One of the most critical issues has been the disruption to digital and mobile phone services. In many rural areas, the storm crippled telecommunications, leaving residents isolated and unable to communicate with emergency services or loved ones. The inadequacies and failings of the new digital voice service need to be urgently reviewed. The storm has highlighted the urgent need for investment in more resilient telecommunications infrastructure to ensure that our communities remain connected, even in the face of severe weather events.

The storm has disproportionately affected vulnerable people in rural areas, with reports of elderly residents and those with disabilities being left cold in homes without electricity or support. Indeed, the lack of power has also had an impact on farms and people with private water supplies.

Those rural communities are in desperate need of immediate assistance. Will the Government commit to prioritising the restoration of mobile phone and telephone services and to providing additional resources to support our most vulnerable citizens to build more resilient and inclusive communities, given that violent and frequent storms are inevitable in the future?

Angela Constance

I thank Mr Carson for his questions. I emphasise the fact that the whole purpose of having resilience structures and of our focus on recovery is to focus on the most populated areas but not just the central belt. I assure him that, in the six ministerial SGoRR meetings that took place over the weekend, we had substantial and in-depth discussions about the challenges that our rural communities face.

With regard to the issues that Mr Carson raises in relation to utilities, I am acutely conscious that Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks is working very hard in the Kintyre area. There are particular challenges in Dunoon, from Balure to Clachan villages and south of Tarbert and, of course, in our island communities, whether that is Gigha or Islay. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport was particularly focused on the resumption of ferry services. Those might not be running completely without disruption, but the resumption of ferry services was very much a necessity because of the needs of our island communities.

I appreciate Mr Carson’s thanks to SP Energy Networks, which has had particular challenges. It covers a wide geographical area in Scotland, from Dumfries and Galloway through Ayrshire to central and Fife, and it has pockets of licence area right across central Scotland. It has had to deal with the challenge of 1,000 faults, so it has made remarkable progress. Nonetheless, I very much appreciate—because I have constituency experience of this—that, if you are one of the remaining 2,500 properties without power, that progress will be of small comfort, bearing in mind the fact that we are now several days into the impacts.

Telecommunications are of fundamental importance. Mr Carson will be aware that the issue of telecommunications, including the security and resilience of the networks, is reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the UK Government, Ofcom and the telecoms industry as a whole. Last year, I answered an oral question from Ariane Burgess on the subject, in which she raised issues in relation to Arran, Skye and other parts of the Highlands and Islands. Although the telecoms industry has made the decision to replace the traditional landline telephone service with a digital service by the start of 2027, there will be no change to the statutory responsibilities that apply to telecommunications providers. I wrote in detail to Ms Burgess, and I am more than happy to write to Mr Carson on that point.

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)

Presiding Officer, please accept my apologies for the delay in taking my place this afternoon.

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of the statement. My thoughts are with those families who have experienced bereavement and injuries during this period.

Storm Éowyn has caused significant damage, and households, businesses and local authorities are beginning the recovery process. However, there are still homes in Fife without power, and people are frustrated by the lack of definitive information on when they will be reconnected. What assurances are the energy companies giving the Government in the resilience room meetings? Is the cabinet secretary confident that communications with customers—in the broadest terms, not just in relation to telecoms—is the best that it can be?

The Government must also reflect on whether the advice was sufficient. What advice was given to businesses? For example, does the Government know how many businesses have a severe weather policy in place? The Scottish Trades Union Congress says that the majority of businesses do not have one. On Friday morning, the Government issued an alert that said:

“Stay indoors if you can. It is unsafe to drive in these conditions”,

However, some businesses were still open and employees were still expected to go to work. Should the advice to stay at home have been given earlier, and should it have been more unequivocal, given the extent of the storm?

Angela Constance

On the red weather warning and the advice to stay at home, as I outlined in my statement to Parliament, at the stage that the weather warning emerged at the start of last week, the scale and severity of the storm that we all ended up having to endure was certainly not predicted. As soon as that information was available from the Met Office, however, Police Scotland worked hard with the Met Office, resilience partners, the Scottish Government and partners across the UK to get that red alert issued. I refute any suggestion that the red warning could have been issued any earlier. I welcome the fact that, for the first time, the red alert was issued over registered mobile phones.

We should always review the standard and quality of communications, whether in Government, between partners or to members of the public. I have written to all MSPs on this three times now, and some of the feedback that I have had from many colleagues relates to members’ frustrations regarding some of their constituents still being without power.

There is also a positive reflection to be made: that, since storm Arwen, there has been much learning and much improved communications from utility companies in particular.

Regarding businesses, I assure members that the whole purpose of the Scottish Government resilience room is for communicating with or having follow-up discussions with particular businesses or sectors, for example retail and supermarkets and road haulage. There were concerns around businesses, and all employers have a duty of care to their employees. I and the Government are very clear about that.

For the reassurance of the member and the Parliament, I can say that, as with all storms and major resilience operations, we will go through a lessons learned operation. I will convene meetings with partners to review and reflect, and I will take the issues raised to Cabinet.

There is great interest in the statement, as you would expect. I would be grateful for concise questions and responses, which will enable me to ensure that as many members as possible can ask a question.

Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP)

Wigtownshire and other parts of D and G were particularly hard-hit by excessively high, gale-force winds during the storm, with communities, including in the Machars, being left without power, some until yesterday. The storm closed the entirety of the A75 and impacted key infrastructure.

I thank the emergency responders, including the Dumfries and Galloway Council and SPEN teams, for their efforts to support local residents. Can the cabinet secretary set out what further action can be taken in rural areas, particularly for people who have electrical medical requirements?

Angela Constance

I of course appreciate the member’s interest in and championing of the particular issues that Dumfries and Galloway and Wigtownshire have had to endure. She is right to reflect on the impacts on the A75. The motorway network and the trunk-road network are now operational, I am pleased to say, although we have to be alert to the secondary impacts that I mentioned in my statement.

Regarding members of the public and households who are reliant on electrical medical equipment, it is the job of health and social care partnerships, in collaboration with utility companies, to ensure that all those in that category are registered on the priority services register, because those customers are of the utmost priority when it comes to power outages—through restoration of power, access to generators, accommodation or other bespoke solutions.

Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con)

I pay my condolences to the family of young Calum Carmichael from East Ayrshire, who was tragically killed during the storm. I cannot imagine the pain that his family must be experiencing. I am sure that the whole Parliament will share my thoughts on that.

The west of Scotland was hit particularly hard by the storm—and I am sure that we have all seen the viral video of Helensburgh leisure centre’s roof. That is how bad things were.

I am relieved that some services are getting back to normal, such as rail services to Largs, Gourock and Wemyss Bay, which will reopen tomorrow or the day after, I believe. It is unclear, however, whether services to Ardrossan will reopen—so I could perhaps ask about that, first of all.

Given the extent of damage to many public buildings, has the Government had any conversation with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities regarding particular support packages that it could offer local councils as they seek to repair and reopen many vital public services?

Angela Constance

I am sure that all members across the chamber wish to express their condolences, like Mr Greene, regarding the loss of Calum Carmichael, who was only 19 years old and who lost his life in a road traffic accident associated with the storm. Given Calum’s status as a student at one of the west coast colleges, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills led the condolences at Cabinet this morning.

Mr Greene’s point about Ardrossan is a wider point about provision and is not related to the storm. However, I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to provide him with more information.

Across the public sector—whether that is local government, the Scottish Government, ScotRail or Network Rail—right now, everyone is assessing the cost of the damage. However, the priority remains our people, including the 2,500 people who are offline. That is the focus. Once we have served our people, we will all have to count the cost and work through that cost collectively.

Elena Whitham (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (SNP)

My heart goes out to Mr Carmichael’s family, who are my constituents.

What powers does the Scottish Government have to compel employers to act earlier to close businesses once a red weather warning has been announced, noting that such warnings are rare and are given when dangerous weather and threat to life are predicted?

Angela Constance

Bearing in mind that employment law is reserved, I suggest that our powers are somewhat limited, although I absolutely do not want to get into a dispute that is in any way political or constitutional, given that the focus right now is on recovery and addressing the storm impacts that continue. Elena Whitham raises an important point, however, which was touched on by Claire Baker, too. It is important that we do everything that we can to scrutinise and support employers, ensuring that they have the right information, pass on that information timeously to their employees and, of course, recognise that they have a duty of care.

Part of our learning-the-lessons review of any major event is always to look at things such as civil contingencies, many of the powers for which lie at a very localised level. There are issues about how best we engage, educate and encourage, but we must also enforce where necessary, and there are various partners that have powers in and around that.

Sometimes, it is not just employers who do not follow advice; it can be individuals who are, to all appearances, of sound mind. Whether you are an individual or an employer, if you do not follow advice, you do not put only yourself at risk. If you get into danger resulting in a rescue operation, you put the lives of emergency workers and volunteers at risk through your reckless actions, which is utterly unacceptable.

Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab)

I echo the condolences for those who lost their lives during storm Éowyn. The tragic death of 19-year-old Calum Carmichael in Mauchline will be utterly devastating for his loved ones.

Police Scotland urged people not to travel during the storm. I appreciate that the cabinet secretary has said that traffic volumes dropped by 80 per cent. However, as we have heard from other members, it is clear that some businesses still put an expectation on their employees to come to work, even when that work was far from urgent.

Will the Government review the approach to travel advice when we have a severe red weather warning? We only have to look at the pictures of HGVs lying at the side of our roads during the storm to see that advisory messages did not go far enough and were not adequate to keep workers safe. Should we be considering whether such advice is statutory and compulsory in such circumstances?

Angela Constance

I contend that the red travel warning was very clear. I do not think that it could have been clearer. Nonetheless, we always have to have an open mind with respect to reviews.

I will not repeat what I said in two previous answers on and around employers.

There is some really informative data on the public’s compliance with the advice about not travelling. There is significant data on reductions in the volume of traffic—on different roads, it reduced by 95 per cent, 100 per cent and 90 per cent—that we can share with the member. I reiterate that the public overwhelmingly complied with the advice, but we will pick up on the other issues that members have raised today.

Fulton MacGregor (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)

Can we in Scotland learn any lessons from the storm practices of countries that are more familiar with such weather or experience it as a norm? How is the Scottish Government seeking to inform its practice using the experience of those other countries?

Angela Constance

That is perhaps an issue for a slower time but, for brevity, I reassure Mr MacGregor about our openness to learning from other countries, which I hope is very apparent. Obviously, there are countries that experience significant snowfall with great regularity. A number of years ago, I was in Japan at the time of a typhoon, and it was somewhat instrumental to see how the Japanese Government dealt with that emergency and how quickly the country recovered. International experience is imperative, and we are open minded and take with all seriousness the lessons that we can learn from others.

Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)

I thank the emergency services and offer condolences to those who lost a loved one during the storm.

It was a relief to hear from the cabinet secretary that no patients were harmed at Forth Valley royal hospital during the power outage. I understand that the back-up generator failed. The emergency battery that was the last resort has limited capacity, of course; I understand that it can provide only up to 90 minutes of power. Given that patients would have been undergoing surgery and been in critical care at the hospital at the time, is the cabinet secretary satisfied that health boards are really putting in the resilience measures that are needed to deal with such a storm?

Angela Constance

I reassure Mr Ruskell that a full investigation of the incident is on-going. It will report, and we will share with the relevant authorities and with Parliament what it tells us and the action that flows from that.

Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)

I, too, thank the emergency services and express my condolences to the families of the bereaved.

As we heard, many members in the chamber received the loud telephone alarm, which was received across the central belt to good effect. In fact, its use seems to have gone much better than the national test, which reached a much smaller percentage of people. How is the Government reviewing the success of the national alert that was sent to mobile phones? How will it ensure that everyone receives the alert in future, including those who do not have a smartphone or compatible technology? What provision is the Government making for those who wish to opt out of the alert, particularly victims of domestic violence who may need to conceal a secret second phone?

Angela Constance

Those are very important points. I reiterate what I said earlier about the necessity and the effectiveness of the red alert. It is important that we review our overall response, and the red alert is, of course, part of that. We will seek to do that in partnership with others across the UK, particularly around widening the scope.

Mr Cole-Hamilton’s point about domestic violence and people having a phone for emergency use and for their safety is well made. It has certainly featured in discussions before, but I will get back to him on the detail of that.

Christine Grahame (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP)

I, too, offer my condolences and thank all the emergency services.

Storm damage has left many people in need of urgent repairs, in many cases to roofing. I have no doubt that most roofers are decent, but there are unscrupulous opportunists who will prey on the elderly, especially those living alone, which is something that I experienced this weekend as an elderly person who lives alone. Thankfully, I saw through someone whom I consider to have been, at best, not trustworthy. Will the cabinet secretary take the opportunity to alert all who might be vulnerable and desperate for repairs but who do not already know a tradesman, and to advise them to be wary and, if possible, check with friends and neighbours before they part with any cash?

Angela Constance

Christine Grahame makes a good point and gives valuable advice. I give her an undertaking that I will raise the issue with trading standards so that we can discuss it with our local partners and perhaps connect it with some of the resilience recovery work to ensure that vulnerable people are given relevant advice about opportunistic criminals who might be circulating in communities.

Tess White (North East Scotland) (Con)

Another storm has wreaked havoc across our energy networks. With wind speeds of 90mph, conditions were far too treacherous for engineers to carry out vital repairs. The same thing happened after storms Arwen, Babet and others. The cabinet secretary spoke in her statement about power cables overturning. Does she agree that such costly and dangerous disruption to the power supply bolsters the need for transmission lines to go offshore or run underground?

Angela Constance

Tess White’s question is probably one for another day. She will appreciate that, as the cabinet secretary for home affairs and with responsibility for resilience, I have a portfolio interest in the emergency response. There are always broader issues to debate about how we can improve our overall resilience.

Michelle Thomson (Falkirk East) (SNP)

I note the earlier question and answer about Forth Valley royal hospital and am pleased that a full investigation is under way. However, there are conflicting reports about the exact length of time for which the generators were offline, with those varying from the short period of time noted in the original statement to the hour outlined by the cabinet secretary. Will the investigation establish the exact length of time, which some anecdotal reports suggest was closer to two hours?

Angela Constance

I will, of course, discuss that with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care so that we can provide the member with assurance of the breadth and depth of the investigation that will take place. I will also ask Mr Gray to write to the member in the interim.

Annabelle Ewing (Cowdenbeath) (SNP)

Some 80, mostly elderly, people living in Fordell Gardens in my Cowdenbeath constituency were left without information or support for more than two days after they lost power on Friday. As park home residents, with a unique contractual status, they were simply abandoned. Will the cabinet secretary agree to take that up with SP Energy Networks and with Fife Council to ensure such a Dickensian approach to people in need does not happen again?

Angela Constance

Like other members, I am well aware of the arrangements for the operation of park homes and of some of the particular challenges that park home residents experience. I assure the member that I will take that matter to the energy companies, Fife and other local authorities, because we have many park home residential sites across the country that are, by and large, populated by people who are over 55 and who are sometimes quite elderly or in the latter stages of their lives. Those communities are unique, so we must ensure that they are served and protected and that they are appropriately registered with utility companies via the property services register.

Katy Clark (West Scotland) (Lab)

Postal workers, many hospitality workers and other private sector workers were told that they had to take unpaid leave on Friday. The public sector seems to have adopted a very different approach. Will the Scottish Government be looking at its fair work agenda to see whether more can be done to protect workers in emergency situations where there is a risk to life?

Angela Constance

Yes, the Government always looks at its fair work agenda, because it has to permeate through all portfolios and all of our actions. Some of the issues and problems that Katy Clark highlighted relate to employment law and employment rights.

It is regrettable that any barrier to adhering to the very clear advice that was given by Police Scotland and the Met Office has been put in an individual’s way.

That concludes the ministerial statement on the response to storm Éowyn. I will allow a moment or two for those on the front benches to reorganise before we move to the next item of business.