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FOI release

FOI – 2026-3254 Off contract locum staff within NHS National Services Scotland (HTML)

Published on 17 February 2026

Date received – 21 January 2026 | Date responded – 17 February 2026

Request

My name is [REDACTED], and I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to request information relating to the use of off-contract locum staff within NHS National Services Scotland.

For the purposes of this request, “off-contract locum spend” should be interpreted as expenditure on temporary clinical staff not sourced via national, regional, or framework agreements. This includes, but is not limited to, non-framework agencies, direct engagements outside approved contracts, or ad-hoc arrangements.

Information Requested

Please provide the following information for NHS National Services Scotland:

  1. Financial Year 2024/2025 The total monetary value (£) of off-contract locum spend incurred between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

  2. Financial Year 2025/2026 (Part Year) The total monetary value (£) of off-contract locum spend incurred between 1 April 2025 and 31 December 2025 (end of Q3).

Breakdown (If Available)

Where the information is already held in a reportable format, I would be grateful if the totals above could be broken down by:

  • Clinical staff group (e.g., Medical & Dental, Nursing & Midwifery, AHPs)
  • Care setting (e.g., Acute, Community, Mental Health)
  • Directorate, service, or hospital site

Please note this breakdown is optional and should only be provided where it does not exceed the cost/time limits set out under FOISA.

Additional Context (If Held)

If available within existing records, please also confirm:

  • Whether NHS National Services Scotland operates a formal framework or preferred supplier list for locum staffing.
  • Whether any internal controls, caps, or approval processes apply specifically to off-contract locum engagements.

Response

I refer to your freedom of information request that we received on 21 January 2026 requesting the following information.

We have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is a specialist Health Board (HB) within NHSScotland, and as such, we do not hold information on behalf of the other HBs in NHSScotland. NSS have no hospitals or GP practices and do not provide clinical or patient services within our HB. NSS are responsible for supplying essential services to the rest of the NHS in Scotland including legal services, procurement, and blood transfusion.

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act, 2002 (FOISA) an organisation does not have to provide information if it does not hold it. NSS does not hold information in relation to off-contract locum staff as this information is not collected by NSS.

NSS can confirm that we do operate a national framework for Temporary Agency Medical Locum Doctors. Information about this framework can be found using the following link: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=OCT462231.

We would advise you to contact each individual HB who may be able to provide you with further information, addresses are as follows:

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request, you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information, please contact the Associate Director Governance and Board Services (Board Secretary) within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

Contact

Email: nss.foi@nhs.scot

Address

NHS National Services Scotland
Headquarters
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9EB

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.

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