Ross Haggart, chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, told the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee that the service has been made aware of the material since 2019, with “permanent solutions” now are required.

He said: “This is a problem we have been aware of since 2019 and while we have got mitigation measures in place, permanent solutions are required because they are key locations for us to operate from across Scotland.”

An SFRS submission to the committee did not disclose the stations where RAAC had been found, but described them as “key stations within our network”.

Adding that RAAC had a “risk of roof collapse as the concrete ages”, the paper said the service had “taken remedial actions to protect firefighters in those stations”.

But it added: “Without permanent improvements or rebuilds, neither we nor our partners who share many of those facilities with us, or the communities who also make use of our buildings, will be able to do so safely in the future.”

Police Scotland’s chief financial officer James Gray told the committee that RAAC is in ten areas in the roof of Fettes, extending to more than 4,000 square metres.

He said Police Scotland was now looking to start a consultation on “exiting” the building — which was the headquarters of the former Lothian and Borders force.

He told how the force checked for the concrete across its entire estate in April “when we identified some crumbling RAAC in the Fettes workshop as part of a routine repair”.

Mr Gray told MSPs on the criminal justice committee that the substance had also been found in the force’s Baluniefield premises in Dundee, with repairs estimated to cost £1.25 million, and in a boiler room at a Police Scotland building in Perth.

He stressed: “There is no risk to anybody working in these sites, we have removed people from the affected locations and we have put emergency pillars in place and safety nets to ensure there is no debris falling from these roofs.

“Given the age and condition of Fettes, which has been underinvested in for many decades, it is not economically viable to make those repairs, and we are looking to go to the police authority next week to get permission to start a consultation on exiting Fettes and relocating elsewhere in Edinburgh.”

The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said that Mr Haggart had been “absolutely right” to say “permanent solutions” were needed.

He is now calling on ministers to publish a full list of buildings across the public sector where the substance has been found, and to set up a national fund to assist with removal costs.

Cole-Hamilton said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service sounded the alarm about Raac from as early as July of last year but ministers have been happy to sit on their hands.

”From our emergency service and healthcare buildings to our schools, colleges and universities, the extent of this dangerous concrete is far-reaching.

”I want to know why the Scottish government chose not to act in the face of clear warnings. Ministers must urgently publish a full list of public buildings containing Raac and commit to a national fund that will assist with its removal.”

The news comes as a school in Moray has closed as a result of the material.

Forres Academy has shut and pupils will move to remote learning today and tomorrow while staff put contingency plans in place, Moray Council said.

A prominent Scottish theatre has also been shut after the collapse-prone concrete was found in the building’s roof.

Motherwell Concert Halland Theatre was closed earlier this week after RAAC planks were discovered in the majority of the roof structure.

A spokesperson for Moray Council said: “Due to receiving new information on the RAAC at Forres Academy from our structural engineer contractor, the status of the level of risk has been updated.

“A full update will be provided on Friday to inform parents and pupils of those plans.”

Almost 40 schools in Scotland have been found to contain the potentially dangerous concrete.