The committee will now consider consider a further response from the Scottish Government to the Committee's report entitled "Report on Reshaping care for older people", external.

The Reshaping Care for Older People is a Scottish Government initiative aimed at improving services for older people by shifting care towards anticipatory care and prevention.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chair Pat Watters says at the present time there has been one control room closed in Dumfries and Galloway.

Mr Watters says in September 2013 the initial decision was made on how to move forward on the control room programme, perhaps the worst fault was not having enough dialogue with the authorities the closures would impact on.

He says the merger of the Dumfries and Galloway control room with the Johnstone control room went absolutley seamlessly.

Last November, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it was closing its Dumfries control room, as part of nationwide moves to reduce the total number from eight to three.

The move, which affected 16 staff, was agreed earlier that year.

Image source, SFRS

It followed the loss of the police control centre in the town in May, despite strong opposition.

Control room services for the south west of Scotland would now be provided from Johnstone in Renfrewshire, about 85 miles from Dumfries.

The SFRS said the move to reduce control rooms would provide a "more resilient and sustainable model which supports and enhances operational activity".

Reevel Alderson
Home affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland

In October of last year, it was reported that co-operation between fire and ambulance services could save lives of many heart attack victims.

The Chief Inspector of Fire Services (HMFSI) said appliances equipped with defibrillators could often reach a medical emergency before an ambulance.

Image source, SPL

He questioned why successful pilot schemes in Aberdeenshire in 2007 were never developed.

But his report said doing so would not replace treatment provided by the ambulance service.

It said with only a few exceptions personnel from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) do not respond routinely to medical emergencies.

But about a third of fire services in England - and major metropolitan brigades abroad, such as Melbourne and Toronto - have become involved in responding to time-critical medical emergencies.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief officer Alasdair Hay says the vast majority of the services are delivered at a very local level in partnership with other agencies and the third sector and the private sector.

Mr Hay says Scotland has the unenviable record in being amongst the lowest in survival of cardiac arrest in Europe.

The ambition is to save 1,000 lives via first response from firefighters he says.

The cost of a fire death is £1.6m, which may be crass, but saving 1,000 lives is how the fire service can make a difference and a huge cost saving.

Mr Hay says in bringing about the single fire and rescue service the biggest focus was on business continuity.

That has taken a significant amount of time and energy by our staff, he says.

Labour MSP Drew Smith asks if the funding gap is a "wake-up" call to the Fire Service.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chair Pat Watters replies with a simple, "no".

Mr Hay says it is recognised that the biggest health and safety issue facing UK fire services is the competency of retained fire-fighters.

Image source, Paul Campbell

Mr Hay says the retained duty system has been cost effective, but the perverse thing is people are paid via activity.

He says the number one priority is prevention of fires so, "who designs a system against your number one aim?".

Mr Hay says the fire service should take great credit in driving down risk and fire fatalities, but the partnership working with other public sector bodies has helped as well.

SNP MSP Colin Beattie raises the issue of false alarms and equipment malfunctions.

He says he is concerned about both of these.

Mr Hay says the number of false alarms at 57% is something the service wants to reduce.

He says there is potential to reduce costs there, and old alarm systems can trigger false alarms.

On the issue of retained fire-fighters, Mr Watters says: "We are absolutely concerned."

He says the organisation needs to make a system work for the rural communities of Scotland.

"We believe the retained system is broken," he reiterates.

On the issue of retained fire-fighters, Mr Watters says: "We are absolutely concerned."

He says the organisation needs to make a system work for the rural communities of Scotland.

"We believe the retained system is broken," he reiterates.

Mr Hay says the unions know about the targets for reducing absences.

He says a new attendance management policy has been produced working in partnership with the Fire Brigades Union.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief officer Alasdair Hay says the staff do work in an inherently dangerous environment.

Mr Hay says the welfare of the staff is paramount.

He says in terms of absences the target changes every year and attendance has improved.

The target has got tougher due to the framework of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chair Pat Watters says we are an emergency service and the firefighters work in extremely dangerous conditions.

Mr Watters says there has been extreme pressure and strain on the staff of the service.

He says he hopes there will be an agreement with the union on staffing as they move forward.

On the issue of the delayed report into the reform process, Mr Watters says: "It is a three year project and we will have a report with the government shortly. I accept it is late but I think we will get better information from it."

Mr Hay also commented, saying it will be a more "meaningful" report. He says it will be useful for people to learn not only what has not gone well, but what has gone well during the process.

Mr Hay says firefighters are key to delivering successful outcomes and he says he is reluctant to see any reduction.

There were approximately 4,000 fire fighters at the time of the creation of the single service and now there are approximately 3,850, he says

Image source, BBC

He says it looks like there will have to be a further reduction in that number due to the cost pressures.

The promise of no compulsory redundancies has helped with the reform, to remove that policy would have a detrimental affect.

Mr Hay says: "We are on track to deliver the savings that were identified through the reform process.

"Our cost base will increase but it would be a steady state in terms of budget. We would have to absorb the inflationary pressures and changes within legislation."

He says the organisation will look at a number of measures, including streamlining processes.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief officer Alasdair Hay says he welcomes the improving safety outcomes highlighted in the report.

Mr Hay says he accepts the service's budget will be reduced in the future.