Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of ambulance handover times on the number of paramedics employed by West Midlands Ambulance Service.

No specific assessment has been made for West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust. It is for local ambulance trusts and their commissioners to take decisions on staff resourcing to meet local patient demand.

However, we recognise the impact that handover delays have on ambulance resourcing, which is why the Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, sets out specific actions to tackle ambulance handover delays by meeting the maximum 45-minute ambulance handover time standard. This will help to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road for patients. The plan is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/