FOI 26-429 Tech to Para Survey Data
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-429 Tech to Para Survey Data
- Request Date
- 15 Sep 2026
- Response Date
- 09 Oct 2026
- Information Requested
Following your response to William Anderson dated 10 September 2026, reference FOI 26-366, I would like to request further information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 about the January 2024 technician-to-paramedic survey.
We would like the data behind the report so we can better understand the interest in a pathway and the barriers staff identified.
Please provide:
- An anonymised copy of the survey data, preferably in Excel or CSV, showing each respondent’s answers on a separate row. Where held and safe to share, please include their role, qualification, length of service, subdivision, urban/rural answers, interest in the pathway and willingness to relocate.
- The full questionnaire, including the answer options and any instructions that meant respondents skipped certain questions.
- The existing figures and analysis behind the report, including how many people answered each question, skipped it or were excluded. Please include the exact numbers who answered yes, maybe and no to being interested in the pathway.
- Any recorded explanation for the different totals. The response gives 927 responses overall, but the clinical-grade chart totals 840 and the subdivision chart totals 853. Please provide any information held explaining these differences.
- Anonymised written comments and any existing analysis of the themes, including any counts behind the statement that over 90% of those answering yes highlighted the five themes in the report.
- Response
Q1. An anonymised copy of the survey data
Please see the attached spreadsheet detailing the anonymised raw data from the Technician-to-Paramedic survey undertaken by staff in January 2024.
Please note - the following information has been withheld under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA:
- responses explaining the individual’s interest in the proposed education transition pathway;
- free-text details of other organisational roles;
- length of service; and
- free-text details concerning the individual’s willingness or ability to relocate.
This information contains personal data provided by individual survey respondents, including details about their personal, family, financial, employment and caring circumstances. Disclosure under FOISA would place this information in the public domain and would be unfair to the individuals concerned, contrary to the data protection principle in Article 5(1)(a) of the UK GDPR. Accordingly, the information is exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA.
Q2. The full questionnaire
We have applied section 25 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, this applies where the information is already accessible. The full survey has been released under previous FOI 26-366 and is published on the Scottish Ambulance Service website - staff-engagement-survey-2-2-1.pdf
This includes the survey questions, response options and free-text questions presented to respondents. Questions marked with an asterisk (*) were mandatory fields within the Microsoft Form. The survey did not utilise branching or skip logic, therefore there were no additional instructions directing respondents to skip questions based on previous answers.
Q3. The existing figures and analysis behind the report
Please find attached the survey response data held by the Scottish Ambulance Service. The spreadsheet provides the recorded responses to each question and allows the number of respondents who answered or did not answer each question to be identified. No respondents were excluded from the dataset provided.
Please note caution when interpreting this data
The project documentation states that 927 responses were received. However, the underlying raw dataset currently held by the Scottish Ambulance Service contains 903 individual response records. The recorded answers to the principal interest question also total 903, comprising 778 “Yes”, 85 “Maybe” and 40 “No” responses.
We have not identified recorded information explaining the difference of 24 between the headline figure in the project documentation and the raw dataset held. Accordingly, the Service cannot verify from the underlying records how the figure of 927 was calculated.
Q4. Any recorded explanation for the different totals.
The Scottish Ambulance Service holds no separate analysis explaining the differences between the totals referred to. However, the survey questionnaire contained a mixture of mandatory and optional questions. As a result, the number of responses recorded for individual questions may be lower than the overall number of survey responses received.
In addition, some questions included an "Other" response option and associated free-text fields. Consequently, totals presented within individual charts reflect the number of respondents who provided a response to that specific question rather than the total number of survey submissions.
The attached dataset allows the number of responses recorded against each question to be identified.
Q5. Anonymised written comments and any existing analysis of the themes
The Scottish Ambulance Service holds the anonymised written comments submitted as part of the survey; having reviewed these comments, they have been withheld under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA.
With regard to the thematic analysis of responses, the information held is contained within the attached survey report. The report sets out the themes identified from respondents' comments, including the statement that over 90% of respondents answering "Yes" highlighted the five themes described in the report.
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold any further analysis, thematic reports, underlying counts, breakdowns or summary documents beyond the information contained within the report. Accordingly, in terms of section 17(1) of FOISA, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold any additional recorded information falling within the scope of this part of the request.
- Response Documents
