FOI 26-181 Paramedic Applicants
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-181 Paramedic Applicants
- Request Date
- 08 Apr 2026
- Response Date
- 06 May 2026
- Information Requested
I would like to request the following information for the last five financial years, with each year presented separately:
1. Paramedic recruitment
The total number of applicants for paramedic roles.
Where recorded, the number of applicants identified as Newly Qualified Paramedics (NQPs).
The total number of applicants who were unsuccessful.
2. Use of private ambulance services
The total number of shifts covered by private ambulance providers in support of frontline operations, excluding Patient Transport Services (PTS).
The total annual spend on private ambulance services, and the equivalent number of paramedics this would represent.- Response
Please note caution when interpreting this data
The figures provided are taken from a recruitment system report which counts distinct application records by financial year and by the application’s recorded Candidate Status at the time the report was extracted. The system does not hold a single field labelled “unsuccessful”, so the “unsuccessful” total has been derived using the relevant status outcomes within the report that indicate an application was not progressed / not appointed.
Importantly, “Total applications” minus “Total unsuccessful” does not provide an accurate figure for the number employed. This is because there are several other recorded outcomes and workflow stages in the recruitment process which mean an applicant may not be employed but is not captured within the “unsuccessful” status set (for example: applications withdrawn, incomplete applications, non‑attendance at interview/assessment centre, offers declined, or interview booking issues). In addition, some applications may be in progress or sit in intermediate stages (e.g., pre‑employment checks / onboarding) and therefore are not equivalent to “hired/started”
Q1 – Please see the table below indicating the total number of applicants for parament roles for the years requested:
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
2025/26
282
377
902
1860
1721
The information is not held in a way that allows us to identify how many of the applicants were NQP’s, there is no dataset that allows us to report on this information. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Please see the table below detailing the number of applicants who were unsuccessful for the years requested:
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
2025/26
80
97
260
469
582
Q2 - The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold recorded information that identifies private ambulance providers as covering core or frontline emergency shifts.
Operational rostering systems, including the General Resource System (GRS), do not record private ambulance providers in a way that distinguishes them as covering core shifts, nor do they differentiate between emergency frontline activity and Patient Transport Services (PTS). As a result, the number of frontline shifts covered by private providers cannot be identified from recorded information. Accordingly, this information is not held under section 17(1) of the Act.
The Scottish Ambulance Service has previously confirmed, including in FOI 25‑093 (Private Ambulance Spend 2018–2024), that expenditure on private ambulance services cannot be separated between emergency frontline activity and Patient Transport Services (PTS).
As spend cannot be disaggregated in this way, the Service does not hold recorded information showing the total annual spend attributable solely to frontline emergency operations.
In addition, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold recorded information showing an “equivalent number of paramedics” based on such expenditure. Producing this figure would require assumptions and calculations rather than the provision of recorded information held by the Service. The Service is not required under FOISA to create new information. Accordingly, this information is not held under section 17(1) of the Act.
