GRAHAME WELCOMES DECISION TO SAVE LOCAL FIRE CONTROL ROOMS

GOOD NEWS FOR LOTHIAN AND BORDERS FIRE BRIGADE

Christine Grahame today (Wednesday) welcomed the announcement from the Scottish
Government that it does not plan to centralise Scotland's fire control rooms or to reduce their numbers. Ms Grahame said it was good news for the fire brigade in the Borders and Fire and Rescue Service control room.

Instead the Scottish Government today announced that it will invest £50 million in state of the art digital incident communications and consult with boards and local authorities on new standards for flexibility and responsiveness.

Welcoming the decision, which ends years of speculation, Ms Grahame said;

"This decision ends years of uncertainty and speculation for fire service employees, fire boards and local government. It should be welcomed that the new Scottish Government we have acted quickly to end that uncertainty.

"It is now possible for fire boards and control rooms to move forward and ensure they are delivering the best possible service to people in the Borders.

"In England the number of control rooms are being cut from 45 to nine and it is turning out to be a false economy so it is further welcome that Scotland will not go down that route.

"The Scottish Government's decision to invest rather than close is a welcome one and I hope it will win support across the board."

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said;

"The view of a substantial majority of those who actually run the control rooms – Councillors, Chief Fire Officers, the Fire Brigades Union and other staff – is that we should stick with the status quo.
“Cabinet has therefore agreed with my conclusion that we will not be taking any action centrally to reduce the number of emergency fire control rooms.

"However events in recent years – including the Glasgow Airport incident, the flooding in the Borders and England over the summer, and the warnings by the new Chief Constable of Strathclyde about the terrorist threat – have highlighted the requirement for enhanced emergency fire control room resilience.
"This is an issue which national and local government and the Fire Brigades Union and other staff representatives need to consider together.

"The Scottish Government will therefore publish for consultation with stakeholders in the New Year what it regards as a minimum standard of resilience for emergency control rooms. We will want to discuss this with stakeholders and reach a consensus on what needs to be done across Scotland to ensure that this standard is reached.”

SNP It’s time.....