Inclusive communication queries for Social Security Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

Request for information 1: Do you track requests for inclusive communication support in your listed authority? This could include (but is not limited to) requests for communication support for meetings (online or in person) and for static resources, e.g. large print, telephone calls, email/digital correspondence, Easy Read, Braille, Moon, Guide-Communicator support, BSL or Deafblind Manual interpretation or translation, Electronic Note Takers, audio descriptions, captions.

Request for information 2: How many requests for inclusive communication support were made to you in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024? Data in either a year-by-year breakdown, or as a single figure across 2020-2024 would be helpful; whichever is easiest.

Request for information 3: How many of those requests for inclusive communication support made to you in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 were fulfilled? Data in either a year-by-year breakdown, or as a single figure across 2020-2024 would be helpful; whichever is easiest.

Request for information 4: What types of inclusive communication support request were made to you in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024? This could include (but is not limited to) requests for large print, telephone calls, email/digital correspondence, Easy Read, Braille, Moon, Guide-Communicator support, BSL or Deafblind Manual interpretation or translation, Electronic Note Takers, audio descriptions, captions. Data in either a year-by-year breakdown, or as a single figure across 2020- 2024 would be helpful; whichever is easiest.

Request for information 5: How many complaints did you receive about a lack of inclusive communication in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024? Data in either a year-by-year breakdown, or as a single figure across 2020-2024 would be helpful; whichever is easiest.

Request for information 6: How many complaints about inclusive communication made in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have been resolved? Data in either a year-by-year breakdown, or as a single figure across 2020-2024 would be helpful; whichever is easiest.

Request for information 7: Do you offer your staff training on inclusive communication?

Request for information 8: If you provide staff with training on inclusive communication, is this training open to all staff or to selected groups?

Request for information 9: What percentage of your staff accessed inclusive communication training in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024? Data in either a year-by-year breakdown, or as a single figure would be helpful; whichever is easiest.

Response

Requests for information 1, 2 and 4:

A total of 55,059 requests were made between April 2020 and April 2024, unfortunately we cannot provide a breakdown by services as they were all requested as a translation service before 2024.

Please see below the table for a breakdown of requests from 1 April 2024 up to date:

Service	Number of requests
Easy Read	884
Braille	92
Large Print	210
Audio (text to speech)	34
Transcription (speech to text)	50
Translation	5,588
Interpretation	18,111
British Sign Language	46

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

This is because Social Security Scotland do not hold a breakdown by services for the period requested, as all requests were categorised as a translation service before 2024.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Request for information 3:

Over 99% of interpreting requests were fulfilled during 2023 and 2024, 306 were cancelled by Social Security Scotland and 273 were unfulfilled by Global Connect.

For British Sign Language approximately 87% of the requests were fulfilled during 2023 to date with 13% remaining unfilled due to clients not being available at the appointed time.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

Social Security Scotland do not hold the percentage of interpreting requests that were fulfilled for the period 2020 to 2022. We also cannot provide the percentage of British Sign Language requests that were fulfilled prior to 2023 as although a contract was in place, the service was not used before 2023.

We do not hold the percentage of requests fulfilled for the other services referenced in the response to Request 1, 2 and 4.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Requests for information 5 and 6:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

This is because this is not a category of complaint reason that we record.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics regarding complaints on our website and include a list of the categories of complaint reasons that we do record. Table 3 in the following link details “Complaints by reason and benefit” which you may find helpful:

Social Security Scotland - Feedback Statistics

Requests for information 7 and 8:

Yes, Social Security Scotland offer all colleagues an inclusive communication e-learning package. This is designed to increase understanding of inclusive communication and why it is important at Social Security Scotland. It also provides practical guidance on communicating inclusively with colleagues, stakeholders and clients. This was created in collaboration with the Inclusive Communication External Stakeholder Reference Group and was launched in 2021.

Our upcoming inclusive communication and Equality Strategy aligns our previous inclusive communication action plan, published in 2022, and Equality Strategy into a single strategy. This new strategy includes many of the outcomes made in the 2022 plan. That plan was co-produced with expert stakeholders and with people who have lived experience of the Social Security system who themselves have a communication disadvantage.

The new single strategy will help us meet our legal and organisational commitments, as laid out in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and in Our Charter.

Request for information 9:

Over 67% of Social Security staff have accessed our inclusive communication e-learning package between January 2020 and December 2024.

Colleagues are encouraged to undergo this training as part of their induction to Social Security Scotland, however, they are not required to repeat this on a yearly basis. Learners can access this training as often as they require.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.