FOI 26-265 Lifelines Information
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-265 Lifelines Information
- Request Date
- 12 Jun 2026
- Response Date
- 13 Jul 2026
- Information Requested
Please provide the following information in relation to Lifelines (lifelines.scot):
- The total amount of funding provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service to Lifelines since the project was established.
- A breakdown of all funding provided by financial year, including the date, amount and purpose of each payment.
- Copies of any agreements, memoranda of understanding, service level agreements, partnership agreements or other documents which set out the Scottish Ambulance Service's financial contribution to Lifelines.
- Details of any current or planned funding commitments to Lifelines.
- Where funding was provided jointly with other organisations, please specify the Scottish Ambulance Service's contribution and the contributions made by each partner organisation, where held.
If any part of this request is considered exempt from disclosure, please provide the information that can be released and specify the exemption relied upon for any information withheld.
- Response
Q1 - Lifelines was established in 2016 initially for volunteers of all emergency services. Support was extended to all staff, volunteers and their families from 2019 with the introduction of a Lifelines website with online resources that was funded by the Scottish Government.
From April 2021, Scottish Government began to reduce their funding of Lifelines and Scottish Ambulance Service, Police Scotland and Scottish Fire & Rescue each paid a third share of the costs for Lifelines.
From the available records between 2021 to 2026 a total of £168,667 was provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service to Lifelines.
Q2 - The following table gives a breakdown of payments to Lifelines:
Date
Payment
Purpose of Payment
2021-2022
£46,000
Funding the delivery of a training programme on Understanding resilience, Supporting your colleagues & Post trauma support.
2022-2023
£118,155
Continuation of the delivery of the Lifelines training programme.
2023-2024
No information available.
2024-2025
£2,256
Costs for ongoing maintenance of the Lifelines website.
2025-2026
£2,256
Costs for ongoing maintenance of the Lifelines website.
Q3 - The Scottish Ambulance Service holds two documents relevant to this part of your request, namely the Memorandum of Understanding between NHS Lothian and the Scottish Ambulance Service dated October 2024, and a signed variation letter dated June/July 2025. Redacted copies are provided.
Limited information has been redacted under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA, as it comprises personal data, including signatures and direct contact details. Disclosure of this information would contravene the data protection principles.
Q4 - As of 1st April 2026 we do not have any funding commitments to Lifelines. Our only ongoing commitment is to make periodic contact to highlight if any information they promote on their website regarding our wellbeing support changes so they can update their website accordingly.
When Lifelines was initially established, we did not have any wellbeing roles or resources in the Scottish Ambulance Service. We are in a different position now with a Wellbeing Team who are able to deliver our own bespoke wellbeing training to our workforce negating the requirement to have an external organisation deliver this training for us.
Q5 - The payments highlighted in the table in Question 3 were a third of the costs – Police Scotland and Scottish Fire & Rescue Service made the same third share payment for the costs.
- Response Documents
-
08.10.2024 Lifelines Scotland MOU Scottish Ambulance Service Redacted (1) (1) (1) (PDF | 303KB)
Variation Letter SAS NHS L MOU June 2025 Signed Redacted (1) (1) (1) (PDF | 263KB)
