Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the pay grades of staff in the ambulance service on recruitment to that service.

There are nearly 2,000 more additional paramedics now than in 2010.

The pay grades of staff in the ambulance service, similar to most other staff across the National Health Service, are based on rigorous job evaluation to ensure staff are paid fairly for what they do. The independent NHS Pay Review Body regularly carries out assessments of the impact of pay on the recruitment and retention of NHS non-medical staff. In their 28^th Report in March 2014 they did not comment on the effect of pay grades of ambulance staff on the recruitment to that service.