Ministers burying bad news – MSP

THE results of a firefighters’ survey should be released without delay, a Tory MSP has said.

The Scottish Fire Service has refused to release details of the survey – carried out using £16,000 of public funds – amid claims it could reveal startlingly low levels of morale.

Shadow Justice Secretary Douglas Ross says Holyrood ministers are now backing the service’s decision amid concerns that making the results public could expose individual firefighters’ identities.

The Conservative MSP said: “The Scottish Fire Service have continually tried to keep the results of this survey hidden, and now we learn that the SNP are happy for them to do so.

“The Scottish Government should be instilling a culture of transparency and accountability.

“But instead they are happy for the fire service to keep this report under wraps.

“When our police and ambulance service regularly publish the results of their staff surveys, I can see no reason why the fire service shouldn’t do the same. All it does is cast doubts over the document and implies that the results are so embarrassing that they need to keep it hidden.

“If the results are as dreadful as expected, then it’s important that we are able to scrutinise them to ensure that improvements can be put in place in future.”