Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the levels of ambulance delays for Category (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3 and (d) 4 calls; and what assessment he has made of the impact of ambulance delays on healthcare in Stafford constituency in the last 12 months.

Ambulance services in Stafford are provided by the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, with responsibility for commissioning services a matter for the local Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board. Any assessment of the specific local actions needed to improve response times should be undertaken and agreed locally by National Health Service organisations in the best interests of the local population and patients.

At a national level, the Government and NHS England are committed to improving ambulance response times. The NHS 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance sets national priorities, which include improving accident and emergency waiting times and ambulance response times compared to 2024/25.