Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce the disparity in ambulance response times in (a) urban and (b) rural areas.

Local commissioners and National Health Service ambulance trusts are responsible for the delivery of appropriate response times for local populations. We are providing an additional £150 million for ambulance services in 2022/23 to support improvements in response times through additional call handler recruitment and retention and other funding requirements.

All ambulance response time categories contain a 90th centile standard, including in rural areas with potentially longer travel times. Ambulance trusts also deploy Community First Responders to respond to the highest priority 999 calls and provide interventions while ambulances are en route, including in rural areas.