FOI 26-144 BSL 999 Calls
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-144 BSL 999 Calls
- Request Date
- 11 Mar 2026
- Response Date
- 25 Mar 2026
- Information Requested
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to kindly request the following information:
- The total number of emergency callouts which came through the 999 BSL service that resulted in an ambulance being dispatched by your service in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025
-Please provide a separate figure for each individual year - e.g. 100 in 2022, 37 in 2023, etc
- The total number of emergency callouts which came through the 999 BSL service that resulted in an ambulance being dispatched by your service specifically where a BSL interpreter was also used / employed / contracted to be present at the scene of the emergency (AFTER the dispatch) (either in-person or virtually e.g. computers on wheels, facetime, etc) in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 -Again, please provide a separate figure for each individual year
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not routinely record whether a 999 emergency call was made via the BSL service, nor whether a BSL interpreter was used after an ambulance was dispatched. Any reference to this would only appear, if at all, in free‑text incident notes, which cannot be reliably searched or reported on. The Freedom of Information legislation does not require public authorities to carry out such extensive manual searches or to create new information in order to respond to a request. As a result, we are unable to provide year‑by‑year figures.
It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
