FOI 26-220 Technician Recruitment
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-220 Technician Recruitment
- Request Date
- 06 May 2026
- Response Date
- 04 Jun 2026
- Information Requested
I am interested in find out about your Ambulance Technician recruitment. Can you please advise over the last 5 years by year and region and where possible whether the posts was for a trainee or qualified ambulance technician
- How many Ambulance Technician vacancies you have advertised
- How many applicants you had per vacancy (or any other statistics to allow me toascertainhow competitive the application process is).
- How many vacancies were filled
- What percentage of those whocommenceda trainee ambulance technician role successfully completed their training.
- The Top 3 reasons candidates did not complete ambulance technician training.
- The lowest level of educational qualification held by a successful trainee ambulance technician applicant.i.eNational 5s
- A copy of a recent trainee ambulance technician and ambulance technician advert, jobdescriptionand person specification - if possible for the Inverness area.
- Response
Q1 - Please see the table below detailing the number of Ambulance Technician vacancies per year from 01/01/2021 - 31/12/2025.
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Number of Vacancies
2568
973
68
64
19
This information is not held in a way that allows us to report on regional breakdowns; in order to provide this, we would need to create new information from multiple data sources. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
Additionally, the information is not held in a way that distinguishes between Trainee Ambulance Technician and qualified Ambulance Technician vacancies.
Q2 - The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold application data in a way that allows us to report the number of applicants per individual vacancy. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held. However, in line with our duty to provide advice and assistance under section 15, we can provide the total number of Ambulance Technician applications received by financial year.
Application records are not held in a way that they relate to specific vacancy adverts and cannot be broken down into Region. This information is held by financial year. Please see the table below detailing the total number of Ambulance Technician applications received broken down by financial year.
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
Total number of Applicants
981
482
168
334
75
Q3 - The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a report which identifies how many advertised Ambulance Technician vacancies were filled. While workforce data relating to staff commencements may be held separately, this is not recorded in a way that directly aligns with individual vacancy advertisements.
Under section 17(1) of FOISA, this information is not held.
Below is a table of how many Ambulance Technicians had a start date with the Scottish Ambulance Service broken down by each calendar year:
Year
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Technician New Starts
311
390
99
59
24
Q4 – Please see the table below detailing the total number of those trainee ambulance technicians who successfully completed their training broken down by year and Region.
NORTH
EAST
WEST
TOTAL
2021
57
125
168
350
2022
115
141
184
440
2023
27
23
33
83
2024
27
2
13
42
2025
10
0
0
10
Please note caution when interpreting this data – Some individuals may still be undertaking training, and their outcomes are not yet final, meaning figures may be subject to change. In addition, not all individuals who commence training will successfully complete it. There are various reasons for this, including not achieving the required standard, withdrawing from the programme, or not completing the training within the reporting period. No figures are available for 2026, as no courses have been delivered to date.
Q5 – The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a categorised or ranked dataset identifying the “top three” reasons for non-completion of Ambulance Technician training.
While reasons for non-completion may be recorded on an individual basis, these are not routinely aggregated or ranked. Under section 17(1) of FOISA, this information is not held.
Q6 – The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a report identifying the lowest level of educational qualification held by successful applicants for Trainee Ambulance Technician roles.
Qualification data is assessed as part of recruitment processes; however, it is not collated in a way that allows for this analysis. Under section 17(1) of FOISA, this information is not held.
Q7 - This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 25(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, as it is otherwise reasonably accessible to you.
This information can be accessed via the NHS Scotland national recruitment website. For example, a recent Trainee Ambulance Technician advert, including details of the role and person requirements, is available here: NHS Scotland | Jobs | Search here for your perfect career - Job Information | Apply for Trainee Ambulance Technician
Recruitment to Ambulance Technician and Trainee Ambulance Technician roles is undertaken on a national basis across Scotland. Job adverts, job descriptions and person specifications are therefore standardised and are not typically specific to individual locations such as Inverness, although vacancies may be advertised for particular stations or regions within national campaigns.
More Information on becoming an Ambulance Technician can be found on the Scottish Ambulance Service website - Ambulance technician | NHSScotland Careers
