Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to decrease the average time taken to answer a 999 call.

To support 999 call answering times, the NHS winter plan will boost the number of 999 call handlers to 2,500 by December 2022. In addition, a new digital intelligent routing platform is being introduced which shares call handling demand across ambulance trusts so they can support each other during the busiest periods.

Mean 999 call answering times is one of the key metrics being monitored this winter through the Integrated Care Board assurance framework to ensure that providers are held to account for performance.