FOI 25-462 First Responder Arrangements on Islands
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-462 First Responder Arrangements on Islands
- Request Date
- 15 Oct 2025
- Response Date
- 04 Nov 2025
- Information Requested
Request - First Responder Provision in Island Communities I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 regarding the provision of First Responders (FRs) and other FR arrangements on the islands within the following Council areas: - Highland, including on the isles of Skye, Eigg, Canna, Rum - North Ayrshire, including on Isle of Arran, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae - Argyll and Bute, including on the islands of Jura, Mull, Tiree, Coll, Colonsay, Islay, Bute, Iona and Gigha For each of the islands listed above, I would be grateful if you could please provide:
- Whether the island currently has any FR provision, and if so:
- Whether FRs are retained staff (i.e. paid a retainer such as weekly fee)
- Whether the FRs are paid on a per call-out basis
- Whether the FRs are volunteers
- Whether the islands have no FR provision
- Whether there is an alternative form of provision (such as local nurse, paramedic, GP, Fire, Coastguard or remote support)
- Any plans or proposals for future changes to FR provision in above mentioned Council areas Highland, North Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has integrated Community First Responders (CFRs) in a volunteer capacity and they respond to calls locally. Their participation is based solely on their willingness to serve their community, without financial incentives, contracts, or employment benefits.
SAS’s role is limited to training, supporting, and coordinating these volunteers through its Community Resilience Department. This includes providing initial and refresher training, ensuring volunteers meet basic criteria (e.g. age, driving license, fitness), and overseeing scheme operations.
Importantly, SAS only has oversight of Community First Responders who are registered through its schemes. There are other types of responders operating in Scotland — such as BASICS Scotland doctors and GoodSAM volunteers — who may support emergency responses in communities but are not affiliated with or managed by SAS.
For enquiries about other community-based responders or broader local resilience arrangements, requesters should contact local Health Boards or Local Authorities, who may coordinate or support alternative schemes not under the remit of SAS.
For more information on CFRs, visit the Scottish Ambulance Service Community First Responders page: https://www.scottishambulance.com/your-community/community-first-responders/
Please see the table below which sets out the counts of Community First Responder teams and Community Cardiac Responder volunteers by Local Authority & Island.
For the given data, you will see that some of the figures are shown as five or less than five, please note that this figure has been suppressed because the statistical value is less than five. The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty, under the Data Protection Act to avoid directly or indirectly revealing any personal details. It is therefore widely understood that provision of statistics on small numbers, five or less, is statistically suppressed upon disclosure.
In terms of proposals/developments, in Argyll and Bute we are currently engaged with communities on Islay and Jura regarding the establishment of Community First Responder teams. These teams will be voluntary i.e. no payment.
SAS Community First Responder & Community Cardiac Responder - Islands
Local Authority Area
Island
Community First Responder Team(s)
Community Cardiac Responder Volunteers
Retained
Call Out Payments
Voluntary (No Payment)
Highland
Skye
5
10
No
No
Yes
Eigg
<5
0
No
No
Yes
Muck
<5
<5
No
No
Yes
Rhum
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Canna
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Ayrshire
Arran
<5
5
No
No
Yes
Great Cumbrae
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Little Cumbrae
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Argyll & Bute
Mull
<5
12
No
No
Yes
Iona
<5
<5
No
No
Yes
Jura
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tiree
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Coll
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Colonsay
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Islay
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Gigha
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Bute
0
0
n/a
n/a
n/a
Total Count
13
31
