FOI 25-009 Equality and Diversity of Board Meetings

Freedom of Information Request

Reference

FOI 25-009 Equality and Diversity of Board Meetings

Request Date

06 Jan 2025

Response Date

16 Feb 2025

Information Requested

Board meetings - accessibility I am writing to request data and information within the context of Freedom of
Information in relation to meetings of the Board. Can you please provide me with the following
information/data for the last 3 calendar years:
• How many Board meetings were held in each of the three calendar years of 2022, 2023 and 2024 ?
• How did the Board ensure that members of the public were aware they could attend and access meetings ?
• When was this method of inviting the public/raising awareness of the public that they could attend
meetings, last reviewed by the Board
• Each year, how many members of the public asked to attend in-person at the meetings of the Board ?
• Each year, how many members of the public asked to attend, virtually, meetings of the Board ?
• Each year, how many members of the public who asked to attend in-person also asked for arrangements to
be made so that the meeting experience for them was barrier-free and fully accessible [such as but not
limited to - large print papers, BSL signer, electronic notetaker, loop systems etc.] ?
Please provide a list of each different form of particular needs identified and those which were
met/unmet.
• Did the Board allocate a budget each year to meet the costs of making Board meetings accessible to the
public ? If so how much for was budgeted for in each of the three years ?
• What was the actual expenditure by the Board in each year for meeting the particular needs of members of
the public in making the meetings they attended fully accessible ?
• What accessibility arrangements are routinely in place for Board meetings [such as but not limited to loop
systems]?
• When did the Board last conduct an Equality & Diversity Impact Assessment of the accessibility of
Board/Council meetings to the general public [including arrangements on how the public are invited to
attend] ?

Response

How many Board meetings were held in each of the three calendar years of 2022, 2023 and 2024 ?
The Scottish Ambulance Service has held 6 public board meetings in each of the calendar years. Dates of
each of the Board meetings are available on our website Board Papers.

How did the Board ensure that members of the public were aware they could attend and access
meetings ? When was this method of inviting the public/raising awareness of the public that they could attend meetings, last reviewed by the Board.

Board meeting dates and timings for each year are published in advance on our external website Board
Meeting . Our communication team also advertise these via social media.

 

Each year, how many members of the public asked to attend in-person at the meetings of the
Board?
Since 2020 we have held the majority of our public board meetings virtually via Teams, with the exception
of the meeting on 30 March 2022 which was held in person, however no members of the public requested
to attend this meeting.

 

Each year, how many members of the public asked to attend, virtually, meetings of the Board?
For each year (2022, 2023 and 2024) there has been <5 members of the public asked to attend.
For the given data, you will see that the figures are shown as, <5, please note that these figures have been suppressed because the statistical value is less than five. The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty,
under the Data Protection Act to avoid directly or indirectly revealing any personal details. It is therefore
widely understood that provision of statistics on small numbers, five or less are statistically suppressed
upon disclosure.
Members of the public can register interest in joining the Board meetings on the Scottish Ambulance
Website Board Meeting

Each year, how many members of the public who asked to attend in-person also asked for
arrangements to be made so that the meeting experience for them was barrier-free and fully
accessible [such as but not limited to - large print papers, BSL signer, electronic notetaker, loop
systems etc.] ?
None

 

Please provide a list of each different form of particular needs identified and those which were
met/unmet.
Did the Board allocate a budget each year to meet the costs of making Board meetings accessible
to the public ? If so how much for was budgeted for in each of the three years ?
As there has not been any accessibility requests from the public, there is no specific budget allocated.

 

What was the actual expenditure by the Board in each year for meeting the particular needs of
members of the public in making the meetings they attended fully accessible ?
As there has not been any accessibility requests from the public, there has not been any accessibility
expenditure.

 

What accessibility arrangements are routinely in place for Board meetings [such as but not limited
to loop systems]?
There are no pre-arranged accessibility arrangements, however requirements would be put in place as and
when they are requested.

 

When did the Board last conduct an Equality & Diversity Impact Assessment of the accessibility of Board/Council meetings to the general public [including arrangements on how the public are invited to attend]?
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not have an Equality & Diversity Impact Assessments specifically for
Board meetings. As a public service we always strive to be inclusive and incorporate mainstreaming
equality & diversity in the day-to-day running of the services. Our Mainstreaming report is available on our
website Mainstreaming - notes for report