FOI 26-112 Subject Access Requests and Complaints Data
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-112 Subject Access Requests and Complaints Data
- Request Date
- 02 Mar 2026
- Response Date
- 19 Mar 2026
- Information Requested
Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I am requesting a detailed breakdown of formal complaints and Subject Access Requests (SARs) handled by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) for the most recent 12-month reporting period (2024/25).
Please provide the following information for the Scottish Ambulance Service and, where available, the comparative NHS Scotland national averages:
- Volume and Origin of Complaints
The total number of formal Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints received, broken down by the following categories:
* Direct: Submitted by the patient.
* Family/Carer: Submitted by a family member on behalf of a patient.
* Power of Attorney (PoA): Submitted by a legal representative or PoA.
* Supported: Specifically those submitted via the Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS) or Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).
- Disability and Condition Breakdown
For the complaints identified above, please provide a breakdown of the number of applicants identified as having the following conditions (where recorded):
* Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
* Mental Health Conditions (including trauma-related conditions).
* Learning Disabilities or Neurodiversity (e.g., Autism, ADHD).
* Physical, Sensory, or Chronic Long-term Conditions.
- Financial and Man-Hour Costs
* The estimated average number of staff hours required to process a single Stage 2 complaint and a single SAR.
* The estimated financial cost (Full Economic Cost) per complaint and SAR, including the typical staff salary bands (e.g., Agenda for Change Bands) involved in the investigation and response.
* Any data or internal audits comparing the staff time/cost spent on Direct/Family complaints versus CAB/PASS supported complaints.
- Administrative "Re-work"
* The number of complaints or SARs that were initially rejected, paused, or returned because the initial submission lacked specific clinical descriptors or required procedural information.
* The estimated man-hour cost associated with the additional clarification cycles required for these cases.
- Subject Access Request (SAR) Statistics
* The total number of SARs received and the average time taken to fulfill them.
* The number of SARs submitted specifically by a Power of Attorney or Family member.
* The number of SARs that exceeded the 30-day statutory limit due to "unclear" or "non-specific" initial requests.
I prefer to receive this information in an electronic format. If certain financial figures are not centrally recorded, please provide the typical staff grades (Bands) responsible for these tasks so that a representative cost can be determined.
- Response
Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, a public authority is required to provide recorded information that it holds at the time a request is received.
FOISA does not require public authorities to create new information in order to respond to a request. Information is not considered to be “held” where meeting the request would require the authority to exercise complex skill and judgement to assess, interpret, reconcile or analyse underlying data in order to produce new outputs.
Q1 – For the reporting period of 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 the Scottish Ambulance Service has had a total of 1128 complaints. This can be broken down by complaint type:
Stage 1 – 620
Stage 2 – 513
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold data sets to report on the categories provided on who submitted the requests. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Q2 – The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a dataset that allows us to report on disability or condition of complainants. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Q3 – The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold any financial or man-hour costs to complete a complaint of SAR request. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Q4 – The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a dataset that allows us to report on the number of complaints, or SAR’s that were initially rejected, paused of returned due to lack of specific descriptors or required procedural information. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Q5 – From 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2025 the Scottish Ambulance Service received 1650 Subject Access requests. There is no dataset of information held on the average time it takes to complete a subject access request.
The Subject Access requests are not held in a way that we can easily identify if the requests came from Power of Attorney or Family members.
The Scottish Ambulance Service does hold information on the number of requests that have exceeded the 30-day statutory limit, but we do not hold a dataset that would attribute this to initial requests being ‘unclear’ or ‘non-specific’
Complaint handling and SARs are often collaborative and vary significantly in complexity. There is no single staff role, pay band, or average time attributable to this work, and providing such information would be misleading. This information is not held in a reportable form and FOISA does not require new information to be created.
