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 help ensure NHS ambulance trusts have sufficient funding to recruit newly qualified paramedics.

Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

Although the funding resource and targets do come from the Department into NHS England, it is the responsibility of NHS England and each integrated care board (ICB) to plan and determine how funding is allocated and spent locally to deliver services within an ICB area, including how this is distributed by ICBs to local ambulance trusts.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.