Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the implications for her policies of findings of the study titled Scottish Firefighters Occupational Cancer and Disease Mortality Rates: 2000-2020 published 10 January 2023, which states that firefighters are far more likely to die from cancer and heart attacks than general public.

The health and safety of firefighters is of great importance and employers must be mindful of the academic research in this area.

Fire and Rescue Authorities are responsible for the health and safety of their employees. It is for individual fire and rescue authorities, as employers with responsibility for health and wellbeing, to ensure that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training they need to safely respond to the wide range of incidents which they attend. This includes working conditions inside fire stations where there are strict requirements for decontamination of personal protective equipment following incidents.

The Home Office will be studying and considering this report carefully.