Board Meetings - FOI Response Register

Can you please provide me with the following information/data for the last 3 calendar years:

1. How many Board meetings were held in each of the three calendar years of 2022, 2023 and 2024?

In accordance with FOISA s 16(1), NHS Shetland confirms that it holds the information requested but that it is exempt from disclosure under FOISA s 25(1) as the information requested is accessible without submitting a request under FOISA s 1(1). The information you have requested is available here:

https://www.nhsshetland.scot/board/board-meetings

2. How did the Board ensure that members of the public were aware they could attend and access meetings?

Board meeting dates are on our website a year in advance. Social media posts are created to encourage attendance in the weeks running up to a meeting. Local media are invited and sent a link for the meeting and papers on the website.

3. When was this method of inviting the public/raising awareness of the public that they could attend meetings, last reviewed by the Board

The Communications Team actively considers how best to promote attendance for each meeting.

4. Each year, how many members of the public asked to attend in-person at the meetings of the Board?

We have not held in person Board meetings since the pandemic. Given the location of some Board Members we would have a need to provide hybrid meeting arrangements. Despite considering venues across Shetland we have not found a space large enough for Board meetings where we can set up suitable equipment for hybrid meetings.

5. Each year, how many members of the public asked to attend, virtually, meetings of the Board?

Between 10 and 20 people have asked for the link most years.

6. 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 note taker, loop systems etc.] ?  Please provide a list of each different form of particular needs identified and those which were met/unmet.

We ask people to indicate if they have any additional support requirements for joining.

7. 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?

No

8. 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?

£0

9. What accessibility arrangements are routinely in place for Board meetings [such as but not limited to loop systems]?

None – Teams functions help support (e.g. transcript).

10. 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]?

There has not been a formal equality and diversity impact assessment on accessibility.