Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy that air ambulance first responders without NHS ambulance trust experience should be eligible for a Platinum Jubilee Medal in the event that they meet the five-year service rule; and if he will make a statement.

The Platinum Jubilee Medal eligibility criteria were agreed across Government, the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, confirmed by the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals and approved by Her Majesty. Individual Government departments are responsible for eligibility decisions regarding the award of the Medal to their staff and other organisations sponsored by that department.

Frontline emergency services personnel who have been in paid service, retained or in a voluntary capacity through a National Health Service ambulance trust, who publicly face the prospect of dealing with emergencies as part of their conditions of service and have completed five full calendar years of service on 6 February 2022 are eligible for the Platinum Jubilee medal. There is no intention to change the eligibility criteria for the Platinum Jubilee Medal, which follows the precedent set for the Diamond Jubilee.