Scottish Fire and Rescue Service facing £389 million capital backlog

THE fire service is facing a £389 million backlog in vehicle and property maintenance, a report has warned.

Audit Scotland said the capital backlog facing the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) was “insurmountable” without further transformation and investment.

Auditors said that if capital spending remains at 2017/18 levels the current £389 million maintenance backlog will reach £406 million over the next 10 years, and warned that “the risk of asset failures, such as vehicle breakdowns, will increase significantly”.

The report said: “To bring its property, vehicles and other assets across Scotland up to a minimum satisfactory condition and maintain them over the next 10 years, the SFRS requires an average annual investment of £80.4 million (three years at £170 million and seven years at £42 million).

“To simply ensure that current assets do not deteriorate any further than the current condition would require an annual investment of £37.8 million over the next 10 years but this would mean the SFRS’s property, fleet and other assets do not meet the needs of a modern service.

“It is unlikely that funding will be available to achieve either of these options.”

Audit Scotland said it was “imperative” that the service reviewed and reshaped its capital assets, which could mean “closing, moving, sharing or changing the use of some of its properties as well as considering the range and deployment of its fleet of vehicles”.

The report praised the service’s slow but steady progress with integrating the eight former services into a single body and strong financial management.

SFRS was now in a good position to complete the process with a deal to harmonise firefighters’ pay and conditions, it said.

Auditor General Caroline Gardner said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has an ambitious vision that involves significant changes to make it a more flexible, modern service.

“It has been working towards this for some time and has taken a cautious and measured approach due to a range of contributing factors.

“It now needs to press ahead with transformation so that it can respond to the changing needs of the public and can address its increasingly unsustainable model of delivery.

“This will take time to achieve and will mean difficult decisions about how the SFRS deploys its people and resources.”

Community Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing said: “I welcome Audit Scotland’s recognition of real progress made by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and that it is in a good position to complete the process of reform.

“The report makes clear that modernisation is needed to reflect the risks that the public face today.

“The SFRS inherited a substantial capital backlog from the eight legacy services and the Scottish Government continues to work closely with the service to identify and provide the capital funding it needs for buildings, fleet and equipment.

“This year the Scottish Government increased the spending capacity of the service by £15.5 million to invest in transformation plans – and maintained an increase of £21.7 million in capital funding announced in the 2017-18 Budget.

“This investment, coupled with service transformation, will ensure that communities across Scotland remain protected from emerging risks and threats.”

Opposition parties accused the SNP administration of under-funding the service.

Tory Liam Kerr said: “The SNP government has allowed a maintenance backlog of £400 million to build up and that’s entirely inexcusable.

“As firefighters themselves are warning, if equipment and vehicles aren’t properly maintained, that will have implications for staff and public safety.

“We need to see some serious action from ministers to address these problems.”

Scottish Labour’s Daniel Johnson said: “The fact that the situation is so bad that fire engines may not even be able to run is a national scandal that could put lives at risk.

“Nationalist ministers must urgently explain how they are going to bridge this funding gap and give our brave firefighters the support they need and deserve.”