Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to support South Central Ambulance Service to meet target waiting times.

We acknowledge that urgent and emergency care performance has not consistently met expectations in recent years, and we are taking serious steps to address this.

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.

This commitment is supported by significant investment in upgrading hundreds of ambulances and expanding the capacity of urgent and emergency care services, enhancing both the speed and quality of care for patients in greatest need.

The latest National Health Service performance figures, from October 2025, for South Central Ambulance Service which covers Slough, show that Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster than in October 2024.