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A framework setting out a consistent position regarding the storage, removal and enforced prohibition of combustible materials in common areas is being taken forward by a Working Group made up of relevant stakeholders and is expected to be completed before the end of 2019.

Amendments to the Building Regulations and Building Standards Technical Handbooks published on 12 July introduced more stringent fire safety provisions for external wall cladding systems.

These provisions apply from the 1st of October 2019 to any new building or new building work.

Programme for Government 2018 committed the Scottish Government to investing an additional £2 million over the next three years to ensure that support can be provided for victims and survivors of gender based violence. Of this £2 million, Rape Crisis Centres have been allocated additional £1.5 million over 2018-21 to improve access to support and ensure that these services plan for the future. The remainder of the funding will be allocated from the next financial year onwards, and further details will be made available about this in due course.

The Scottish Government provides the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) with a Capital Budget of £32.5m. It is for the SFRS to decide how that money is spent. In 2018-19 SFRS reported spending £4.255m on IT and Digital and in 2019-20 SFRS has allocated £5.17m.

For 2019-20, the Scottish Government has increased the budget of SFRS by £5.5 million to invest in service transformation. This is in addition to increasing the spending capacity of the service by £15.5 million in 2018-19. We continue to press the UK Government for return of the £50 million paid in VAT since 2013.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Youth Volunteer Scheme (YVS) will become the first consolidated youth programme which will create opportunities to improve life chances and empower young people to work together for a safer Scotland.

Its main objective is to provide a safe environment in which young people can learn as individuals, develop positive relationships and actively support their community by volunteering and transferring key safety messages including first aid, fire safety, road safety, water safety and home safety.

The scheme will demonstrate various roles within the SFRS increasing capacity for further learning and employability whilst encouraging young people to make positive choices as they emerge into adulthood.

The YVS will engage with a range of young people which reflects the diversity of the local community. 10 schemes will be implemented across Scotland from November 2019 to April 2020.

Operational decisions, including the provision of training are a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Training is a critical part of a firefighters journey beginning with a 14 week intensive training course at one of the SFRS training Colleges and on completion continues annually for the length of their SFRS career.

34 stations across Scotland have received training to support the introduction of Rapid Response Unit's (RRU) within the SFRS.

Personnel at these stations were trained in the use of Ultra-High-Pressure Firefighting System (UHPFS) equipment and associated techniques, leading to improved community and firefighter safety through the introduction of these modern firefighting and rescue technologies. They were also trained in the use of E-draulic cutting equipment, enhancing station rescue capability and reducing environmental impact.

Since September 2018 SFRS have appointed 18 RDS/Volunteer Support Watch Managers from existing Retained Duty System (RDS) establishment. These personnel support 18 "clusters" areas across Scotland that include a total of 125 RDS/Volunteer stations. These Watch Managers have been trained to provide local support in relation to; Incident Command, enhancing crew and community safety and rural resilience. They also provide Community Safety activities (prevention) including home safety visits, partnership initiatives for "at risk groups" and diversionary initiatives to reduce anti-social behaviour.

This contributes to enhanced Community safety and firefighter safety.

As our Programme for Government for 2019-20 indicates, a campaign is now in an advanced planning stage.

SFRS have just commenced a programme of installing charging points at ten strategically located sites across the country.

The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) intend to install two public charging points at each of five of its corporate sites in Cambuslang, Hamilton, Perth, Inverness and Dundee. This work has commenced and will be complete by February 2020.

The Dundee Asset Resource Centre was the first site in this programme and has just been fitted with six charging points, two of which are public. Newbridge has also been fitted with two public charging points.

This Government has already invested £330 million to improve rail services in the north of Scotland.

Transport Scotland and its partners are committed to delivering new railway stations at Kintore and Dalcross. NESTRANS has recently been successful in securing a share of the Scottish Government’s £2 million Local Rail Development Fund. This funding will allow NESTRANS to carry out a multi-modal transport appraisal to look at opportunities to improve connectivity across Aberdeen.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

Following several months of positive discussions with the POA(S) regarding prison officers’ pay, SPS made a pay offer on 9 August 2019.

The offer is a three year deal for 2019-22 providing a 6% pay rise for prison officers in year 1, with higher awards of 6.4% and 6.6% respectively for staff in Bands C and D at the top of their pay band maximum. This is followed by further 4% rises, for those earning up to £36,500, in years 2 and 3.

The POA(S) announced on 30 August 2019 that following a ballot of their members the offer had been overwhelming accepted.