The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Under consideration PE2078: Introduce mandatory licencing and inspection of private ambulance service providers
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to create a new body responsible for the inspection, assessment and licensing of private ambulance service providers or encompass the clinical governance management of private companies in Scotland into Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Previous action taken
I have raised this issue with Katy Clark MSP, who wrote to (then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and now First Minister) Humza Yousaf MSP who responded by stating a belief that private event first aid and ambulance companies are regulated in Scotland, a response which is completely inaccurate, as there is no clinical governance of private ambulance services.
A letter is being drafted to Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.
Background information
Each year in Scotland, hundreds of thousands of people attend various different events, from small local community gala days to large national music festivals and sporting events held throughout Scotland. Each of these events has a minimum level of immediate first aid and ambulance service provision which they are required to have to ensure the safety of patrons, staff, and competitors.
These private companies, however, are not required to register with any clinical governance organisation, adhere to any rules or be subjected to any form of assessment or inspection. I worked in this industry and have significant concerns about practice. Contrary to the requirements in England, which require private ambulance service providers to be registered with the Care Quality Commission which carries out a number of assessments and inspections to ensure the suitability of these registered companies.
Each year in Scotland, the attendees of these events are put at risk by companies with no clinical oversight or governance.
35 signatures
This petition is now under consideration
Click here for further information about the consideration of this petition.