Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 on the ability of healthcare professionals to participate in industrial action.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 allows for regulations to be laid in Parliament in the health sector. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels: NHS Ambulance Services and the NHS Patient Transport Service) Regulations 2023 came into force on 8 December 2023.
As we set out in in our consultation response on minimum service levels in the ambulance sector, in our engagement with representatives from ambulance trusts, they indicated that establishing a minimum service level at the level specified in the regulations would require approximately 80% of an ambulance service’s resources on a typical shift. Therefore, if an employer chose to issue work notices during a strike, it is likely that a high proportion of all levels of paramedics, emergency care assistants, and other staff in the ambulance teams rostered to work on a strike would be named, and this would have a significant impact on the ability of employees to participate in strike action. The Department has consulted on whether to implement similar regulations for hospital services, and will set out its response in due course.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with healthcare professionals on minimum service levels during strikes in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the consultations on introducing minimum service levels in both ambulance and hospital services, the Department hosted workshops to which a wide range of representative groups were invited. This included employer and provider organisations, and unions representing healthcare professionals.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) sexism, (b) racism and (c) bullying behaviour within the ambulance service; and if she will establish an independent body to review complaints made by ambulance workers.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone working in the National Health Service must feel safe from any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination, or abuse, and feel confident that they can raise concerns, which will be taken seriously and acted on.
The Department welcomes the publication of the NHS England commissioned independent review into ambulance sector culture. NHS England has established a Delivery Board to deliver the review’s important recommendations. This includes actions led by the Office of the Chief Allied Health Professions at NHS England, and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, on stopping misogyny and improving sexual safety in the ambulance service. This programme of work will build on the work already underway through the NHS People Plan, and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average ambulance response times in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands were in the latest period for which figures are available; and what steps she is taking to help reduce ambulance response times in those areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lincolnshire and the East Midlands are served by the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS). The following table shows the average EMAS response time, broken down by response time category, in January 2024:
Response time category | Response time |
Category 1 | 00:09:08 |
Category 2 | 00:49:59 |
Category 3 | 02:48:54 |
Category 4 | 02:48:56 |
Source: Ambulance response times are published monthly by NHS England, and are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/
Our Delivery Plan for Recovering Urgent and Emergency Care Services sets out a range of measures to support the reduction of Category 2 response times to 30 minutes on average. To increase capacity and improve ambulance response times, ambulance services are receiving £200 million of additional funding this year, alongside the delivery of new ambulances.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times an ambulance has been called to HMP Lowdham Grange in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In line with policy at HMP Lowdham Grange, when a medical emergency procedure is activated, it is standard response for the communications room to call for an ambulance. This is in partnership with the prison’s healthcare providers. HMPPS does not hold information about the number of times the ambulance service has been called to attend the prison as the information is held by NHS England.
HMPPS contract management teams provide assurance that the prison provides safe, decent and secure services in accordance with the contract.
Asked by: Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many occasions emergency services have attended incidents (1) at railway stations, or (2) on railway tracks, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no single source of data on the number of occasions that emergency services have attended incidents at railway stations or on railway tracks.
Data on incidents on public transport attended by the British Transport Police in Great Britain may be found in British Transport Police ‘Use of force statistics’.
Data on incidents attended at public transport locations by police forces in England and Wales may be found in Home Office ‘Police use of force statistics’.
Data on false alarms, accidental and deliberate fires ‘on trains’ attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in England may be found in in Home Office ‘Fire statistics’:
The department does not hold data on the number of incidents attended by NHS England Ambulance services at railway stations or railway tracks.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number (a) police stations, (b) fire stations, (c) hospitals, (d) ambulance stations, (e) residential care homes, (f) children’s homes and (g) social services homes that have a flood risk vulnerability classification of "Highly Vulnerable".
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Uses that are classified as ‘highly vulnerable’ are set out in annex 3 of the National Planning Policy Framework and includes police, fire and ambulance stations. Hospitals and residential institutions are classified as ‘more vulnerable’ in the Framework.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to (a) allocate additional funding and (b) increase staff recruitment for NHS England in winter 2023-24.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to do so. We have invested an additional £1 billion to support capacity in urgent and emergency services this year, alongside a £250 million capital investment in hospital trusts, and £200 million for ambulances services.
This funding has been used to boost capacity in the health service this winter and beyond and aims to add 5,000 more staffed beds permanent bed base this winter, as well as increase the number of deployed ambulance hours on the road.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is her Department is taking to reduce ambulance waiting times in (a) Weaver Vale constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services aims to reduce Category 2 response times to 30 minutes on average this year. The plan sets out a range of measures to improve urgent and emergency care performance across the patient pathway. To increase capacity and improve ambulance response times, ambulance services are receiving £200 million of additional funding this year. We have already seen significant improvements in ambulance performance this year. Nationally, average Category 2 response times were more than 45 minutes faster in December than the same month last year, despite increases in demand. The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which serves the Weaver Vale constituency, was almost 34 minutes faster this December.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the amount of money spent by the NHS on private ambulances in each of the last five years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not collected centrally by the Department.