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As I have already stated there was a meeting of Tayside Fire and Rescue Board this morning in Perth. I have dealt with the issue of the Towards a Safer Tayside consultation elsewhere, but it was not the only issue which we discussed.
The papers for the board are not yet online but you can visit Tayside Fire and Rescue's website to get an idea of the issues which the board faces.
We discussed next year's revenue budget and I asked why the Fire and Rescue Board is in effect returning over £1million to the three constituent councils and over £500,000 to Dundee City Council alone in light of the severe financial pressures which the board faces. I was told that this was because the budget which we set was based on needs and that there were sufficient resources available for this year.
I drew attention to figures which demonstrate that work around decreasing problems associated with Bonfire Night was working. In 2006 there were 121 incidents while last year this figure had decreased to 65. This is very welcome and I hope that these efforts will continue in future years.
The board received a report on the recent publication Scotland Together - A Study examining fire deaths and injuries in Scotland. I welcome this report I think that it highlights many of the important issues. As a board we must take seriously the rise in fire deaths and our responsibility to protect our staff and the people of Tayside from fire. It is obvious that the Fire and Rescue Board here in Tayside or elsewhere in Scotland cannot find solutions to all the issues which lead to fires. We know that fires come about as a result of many issues but social deprivation is a key problem.
It would be good if there were genuine partnerships which sought to deal with these problems such as drink and drug abuse which often leads to fires.
It is important that we work with the whole of society to recognise the problems that come about as a result of social problems and which often contribute to fires.
It would be good if there were genuine partnerships which sought to deal with these problems such as drink and drug abuse which often leads to fires.
It is important that we work with the whole of society to recognise the problems that come about as a result of social problems and which often contribute to fires.