Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve ambulance response times in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.

The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.

We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26, is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, and commits to reducing category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average this year. The East Midlands Ambulance Service is investing over £4 million for additional clinicians in its control rooms to help patients with urgent care needs who call 999 to get signposted to the right care at the right time in the right place.

The latest data from December 2025 for ambulance response times for East Midlands Ambulance Service shows progress, with category 2 incidents responded to in 44 minutes 19 seconds on average, which is 21 minutes and 56 seconds faster than the same period last year.