FOI 25-552 East Region Secondments

Freedom of Information Request

Reference
FOI 25-552 East Region Secondments
Request Date
26 Nov 2025
Response Date
16 Dec 2025
Information Requested

This is a request for information about the use of secondments within the Scottish Ambulance Service’s East Region. There is growing concern that secondments are being used not only for project or temporary functions, but to fill ongoing operational and leadership posts, creating what is in effect a parallel workforce that does not appear to follow the usual NHS Scotland recruitment, workforce planning or governance processes. I would like to understand the scale, duration and governance of this practice, and how it aligns with NHS Scotland workforce policies.  

  1. Please provide the total number of staff currently working on secondment in the East Region, including those covering operational posts such as paramedics, technicians, ambulance care assistants, relief or board spaces, Team Leaders and Area Service Managers. For each secondment, please include the start date, expected end date and whether it has been extended.
  2. I would like to know how many secondments in the East Region have been in place for longer than twelve, twenty-four and thirty-six months, and how many roles have been continuously filled by successive seconded staff over the past three years. 
  3. Please confirm how manyTeamLeader and ASM posts have been filled by secondment during the past three years, whether these were advertised beyond the local areas, and how this approach is reviewed for consistency with NHS Scotland recruitment and equal-opportunities policies.  
  4. I would also like to request any internal workforce or governance documents produced in the past three years that discuss the use of secondments (locally or nationally), including any benchmarking or compliance checks carried out to ensure that secondments are used appropriately and in line with national policy.
Response
  1. Please provide the total number of staff currently working on secondment in the East Region, including those covering operational posts such as paramedics, technicians, ambulance care assistants, relief or board spaces, Team Leaders and Area Service Managers. For each secondment, please include the start date, expected end date and whether it has been extended.

Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), public authorities are required to provide access to recorded information that they hold at the time of the request. However, FOISA does not oblige authorities to create new information in order to respond to a request. This means that if the requested information does not exist in a recorded form, the authority is not required to generate, compile, or otherwise create it. The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold information on the number of operational posts (Ambulance Care Assistant, Technician, Paramedic Advanced Paramedic) covered by secondment in East Region; it is not held centrally.  

There can be a variety of reasons why vacant positions and/or roster vacancies are not filled on a permanent basis. These include time‑limited vacancies arising from maternity leave or sickness absence, the creation of development opportunities, and testing new models of service delivery. The East Region manages secondments in line with the organisational Secondment Policy; however, shadowing a rostered line is not a formal secondment. 

There are currently 14 management posts covered by secondment in the East Region between Team Leaders, Area Service Managers and Heads of Service positions.  Any further breakdown of this information could result in individuals becoming identifiable; this is exempt under section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002. 

Having considered the data, providing secondment start date and expected end date for each position has the potential to lead to individuals identifying themselves and therefore are withholding this under section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002.  We can confirm that 11 posts have had their secondment extended and 3 have not had their secondment extended. 

 

  1. I would like to know how many secondments in the East Region have been in place for longer than twelve, twenty-four and thirty-six months, and how many roles have been continuously filled by successive seconded staff over the past three years.

 

 

>12 months 

  

>24 months 

(inc those >12 months) 

>36 months 

(inc those >24 months) 

Number 

10 

5 

<5 

 

There have been a total of 12 continuously filled by successive seconded staff. 

 

  1. Please confirm how manyTeamLeader and ASM posts have been filled by secondment during the past three years, whether these were advertised beyond the local areas, and how this approach is reviewed for consistency with NHS Scotland recruitment and equal-opportunities policies. 

As outlined in question 1, there have been 14 posts filled by secondment inclusive of Team Leaders, Area Service Managers and Heads of Service, any further breakdown of these figures could lead to individuals identifying themselves, this is exempt under section 38(1)(b). 

Area Service Manager positions are normally advertised to the wider organisation.  In urgent cases where a vacancy must be filled quickly, adverts me be restricted to expedite cover. 

Team Leader secondments are advertised beyond the local area where the staff establishment allows – i.e. where there is a substantive vacancy, not solely the Team Leader element. 

 

Important information to consider – There is an internal advertising and approvals process that includes Human Resources (HR) sign-off.  HR provides oversight of the recruitment/secondment process to ensure compliance with organisational policy and relevant legislation, including equal-opportunity requirements. 

 

  1. I would also like to request any internal workforce or governance documents produced in the past three years that discuss the use of secondments (locally or nationally), including any benchmarking or compliance checks carried out to ensure that secondments are used appropriately and in line with national policy.

The Scottish Ambulance Service follows the Once for Scotland Secondment Policy that has been set by NHS Scotland - Secondment Policy Overview | NHS Scotland.  The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold any information on benchmarking or compliance checks to ensure secondments are used appropriately.   

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