Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of volunteer emergency responders in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Government recognises and is grateful for the valuable contribution volunteers make in supporting National Health Service staff, patients, and services.

Individual ambulance trusts are responsible for making decisions on recruiting, supporting, and developing volunteers to support their specific service needs. NHS England recently launched a single volunteer recruitment portal making it easier for trusts across the NHS to advertise volunteer vacancies, and for potential volunteer applicants to source and apply for available opportunities.

There are currently no plans for the Government to review the ways that emergency responders are recruited or supported by trusts.