Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that all category (a) one and (b) two emergency calls are responded to during the ambulance strikes.

We expect that discussions on local derogations for ambulance provision will take place in advance of the planned strike action. NHS England has explored a range of measures to maintain ambulance services during industrial action. As a contingency, a Military Aid to Civilian Authorities request for a limited number of personnel has been submitted to the Ministry of Defence.