Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to provide financial support to voluntary blood bike charities undertaking urgent medical transport services for the NHS.

Currently, there are no plans at a national level to provide financial support to voluntary blood bike charities undertaking urgent medical transport services, and NHS Blood and Transplant does not use the service of blood bikes.

Decisions to commission support for local services are taken at an integrated care board and trust level. Hospitals can, on occasion, choose to arrange their own transport for blood using contractors, couriers, or charity volunteers, such as the blood bikes, which currently deliver 2% of the blood products used by hospitals across England.