Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to provide additional support to the ambulance service amid (a) staff shortages and (b) high demand during the current covid-19 outbreak.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are supporting to ambulance trusts in England with an investment of an extra £55 million to increase staff numbers for the winter, including over 700 additional staff in control rooms and on the frontline. This includes £1.85 million to place more hospital ambulance liaison officers at the most challenged hospitals to address ambulance queues and £4.4 million to maintain an additional 154 ambulances.