A firefighter with links to the service in the north of Scotland has been appointed to lead Her Majesty’s fire service inspectorate.
Robert Scott will be responsible for advising the Scottish Government and helping the service protect communities across the country as HM Chief Inspector of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).
He will take on the role on April 1 and said the appointment is “a great honour”.
During his career, Mr Scott served as Director of Service Delivery for the North of Scotland from 2013 – 2015 and spent a great deal of time in Inverness, as well as visiting staff and partners based across the north, including Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles.
He said he had “very fond memories” of that period of his career and of “the wonderful people who work so hard to protect the communities of Scotland”.
He formally takes over his new role on 1 April from Simon Routh-Jones, who is due to retire at the end of March, after more than two years in the post.
Mr Scott said: “It is a great honour to be appointed as HM Chief Inspector of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
“I look forward to building on the work of my predecessor and leading an established and highly professional team.
“It is the role of the Chief Inspector to provide independent and professional advice to the Scottish Government and ensure the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service continues to operate in an effective and efficient manner as it protects the communities of Scotland.
“I am delighted to have been asked to fulfil this role and I look forward to providing support, and appropriate challenge, to the service as it continues on its journey of continuous improvement.”
Announcing his appointment as HM Chief Inspector, community safety minister Ash Denham said: “I warmly welcome the appointment of Robert as Scotland’s Chief Inspector of our fire service.
“He has demonstrated that he has the right qualities to lead HMFSI in delivering a varied inspection programme going forward, which will help inform SFRS in its fundamental objective of keeping our communities safe.
“I look forward to working with Robert when he takes up his position.”
HMFSI is independent of the Scottish Government and SFRS and carries out independent inspections.
The Inspectorate also provides independent advice to ministers and has certain functions relating to non-domestic fire safety.