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 improve ambulance waiting times in (a) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent.

The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.

We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. We are also tackling unacceptable ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, supporting ambulances to be released more quickly and get back on the road to treat patients.

The latest National Health Service performance figures for the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which serves Ashford and Kent, show that Category 2 incidents were responded to in 29 minutes 57 seconds on average, and the mean handover time was 18 minutes 10 seconds, meeting the targets set by the plan.