Response to reform of Scotland’s police and fire services

The Highland Council has welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the debate over the reform of police and fire services in Scotland after Cabinet Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced that a consultation on specific options for change will begin next month.

The options for consultation include the creation of eight separate boards with enhanced collaboration; a regional structure with fewer boards and a single service for police and a single service for fire and rescue. The Cabinet Secretary indicted he was not minded to support the retention of eight Forces.

Leader of the Council’s Administration, Councillor Michael Foxley, said he believed that a single centralised Scottish service for police and a single centralised Scottish service for fire and rescue would seriously disadvantage Highland communities.

He said: “I welcome this consultation although the Minister has said that he is not persuaded by the case for a single blue light service but we will have the opportunity to persuade him. So, as a matter of urgency, we will be gathering evidence to demonstrate the significant benefits of much greater co-operation between the police, fire and ambulance services in our remote and rural region.   This will achieve savings, improve accountability and improve service delivery.

“We only have to look at the Scottish Ambulance Service to see the failure of a centralised service in terms of local accountability and joint working.

“Integrating services for police, fire and ambulance will save lives, save money and better support our communities.”

Councillor Ian Ross, Vice-Convener of Northern Joint Police Board, said: “I am disappointed that the creation of a new blue light service will not feature as an option for consultation. 

“Mr MacAskill places a great deal of emphasis on local accountability. This is absolutely crucial to the efficient delivery of future services, but this must have genuine substance behind it and I hope that the consultation document contains significantly more detail on how this will be implemented in practice.”

“The impression I get is that the review is being primarily driven by costs and cash savings. There have been no real analyses of the options and the wider service delivery implications - there is the need for a robust evidence base and this work needs to be undertaken before we can respond effectively to the consultation.”

Councillor Richard Durham, Convener of the Highland and Islands Fire Board, said the impression he had been given by the announcement was that saving money was the sole driver of the review.

He said: “I would have thought that the starting point of this exercise would be for the Scottish Government to define what a 21st century fire service needs to look like.

“It is not clear what they are they trying to achieve through this review.  To me, it must be more than saving money. If we are going to have change, we need to try and make changes for the better particularly for the people of the Highlands and Islands. We need to see a model of what a single service would look like and how it would deliver effectively for the Highlands and Islands. Local accountability is crucial to the people of our region. The concern in looking at the centralised model of the Scottish Ambulance Service does not inspire confidence across the Highlands.

“My view is that the status quo is not likely to provide the necessary savings in the current financial climate and this position was accepted by the Fire Convener’s forum early last summer. The creation of a single service for fire carries real fears for our region that would need to be allayed before one could support this option.”

The Fire Board will be meeting later this week to discuss their initial response to the review.