Our advisory board

The Scottish Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Advisory Board provides advice to Scottish Ministers on a broad range of policy matters relating to the pension scheme.

The board is chaired by a senior Scottish Government Official, has other members representing the interests of the Scottish Government , the scheme members and the scheme employer. The current members are:

Mark Rowe – member representative

Mark has been a Merseyside firefighter for 34 years and is still employed as such. He has been a Fire Brigades Union (FBU) official since 1988 with various different roles within both Merseyside and the wider North West region. In 2019 Mark took up the role of National Officer for the FBU. He works with civil servants from all parts of the UK in relation to pensions and has held the remit for pensions for the FBU since October 2020. Mark has been involved in many aspects of negotiations in relation to pensions since taking on the role and also holds other remits for the FBU, including the remit for Legal.

Glyn Morgan – member representative

Glyn Morgan served almost 31 years as an operational member of the Fire and Rescue Service. He spent five years with Nottinghamshire Fire Service then almost 26 years in Strathclyde before retiring from a Group Manager role in 2008.

Glyn's last 10 years' service focussed on planning, performance management and Best Value compliance. During the 1990s, he became involved with trade union duties with the National Association of Fire Officers, and subsequently with the Fire Officers' Association (FOA) after its formation in 1994. He held a number of local and national positions with the FOA, including national President. Since retiring, he’s been employed as Chief Executive of the Fire Officers' Association.

In 1996, he became the FOA's representative on the UK Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council's Pensions Sub Committee. He has fulfilled a similar role during structural and departmental and legislative changes that saw responsibility for advising UK Ministers on fire pensions pass to the Firefighters' Pension Committee and now to the English Scheme Advisory Board.

Prior to his appointment to the Scottish Scheme Advisory Board, Glyn represented the FOA at Scottish Firefighters' Pension Forum meetings.

Colin Brown – member representative

Colin has been a Firefighter in Scotland for fifteen years and has held a variety of remits within the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) over that time.  In 2022 he was elected to the position of Executive Council Member for the FBU in Scotland having previously held the role of North Area Secretary.  

As Executive Council Member he has responsibility for representing members at a national level, with a seat on the National Joint Council for local authority fire and rescue services and lead members group.  Given his role he has a detailed interest in all of the occupational uniformed pension schemes.

John McKenzie – member representative

John has been an operational Firefighter since 2005, alongside holding a variety of remits within the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) since 2009.  He is currently the Scottish Regional Secretary for the union, having previously held the role of East of Scotland Area Secretary for five years.  

His remit as Regional Secretary involves negotiating on behalf of and representing members on a broad range of industrial issues including pay and terms and conditions.  He has a keen interest in all four occupational uniform pension schemes which fall under the remit of the Scottish Firefighters Pension Board.

Alan Duncan – employer representative

Alan is the Accounting Manager for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with over 20 years' experience as an accountant in the public sector. His remit includes the payroll function, completing the Annual Accounts for the Service and liaising with the SPPA on pension matters. He was a member of the Firefighters' Pension Board from 2015 until 2023.

Brian Baverstock – employer representative

Brian is an independent consultant specialising in public sector governance and risk management. A qualified accountant with a long career in the public sector in Scotland, he has held a number of senior roles associated with the implementation of public sector reform. 

Brian is also an experienced non-executive director in the public and voluntary sector in Scotland. He is currently a Board Member with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. 

George Lindsay – employer representative

George has been employed by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for over 42 years and has served in Professional and Managerial roles at supervisory, middle and strategic levels within a wide number of areas of functionality. In many of these roles, George was required to research, analyse and make decisions or recommendations based on legislative and financial information, and to take into account the organisational and political context which pertained to the issues under consideration.

George not only has practical experience within the Fire and Rescue Services, but through academic study in a range of managerial disciplines. George holds a Master’s Degree (with Distinction) in Human Resource Management, and a number of other qualifications in Management, Health and Safety, Project Management and Quality Management.

Since the creation of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, George has been heavily involved in key projects that have supported the development of standardised working and contractual arrangements for staff transferred into the new service from the antecedent Fire and Rescue Services.

Further reading

Terms of Reference

Minutes and Agendas

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

Firefighters’ Scheme Advisory Board Minutes – 26 September 2018

Please contact us if you wish to access previous years' minutes.

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