Written questions by Trickett.

What information his Department holds on the number of ambulance response cases in Category 3 and Category 4 incidents that involved patients waiting over 5 hours for an ambulance for each region of the UK.

NHS England publishes monthly data on ambulance response times for England as part of the Ambulance Quality Indicators publication. The publication can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/NHS England does not publish performance response time data that allows for an assessment of the number of patients who wait over five hours. It does publish the 90th centile performance, the threshold that the 10% of incidents with the highest response time are greater than.Ambulance response times for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are published by their own health services respectively and can be found online. The response time categories and thresholds differ from those used in England, and as such direct comparisons cannot be made. The separate publications for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are available, respectively, at the following three links:https://www.scottishambulance.com/our-board/board-papers/https://jcc.nhs.wales/insighthub/asi/https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/emergency-care-and-ambulance-statistics

What information his Department holds on the average ambulance waiting times for (a) Category 1, (b) Category 2, (c) Category 3 and (d) Category 4 incidents for each region of the UK.

NHS England publishes monthly data on ambulance response times for England as part of the Ambulance Quality Indicators publication. The publication can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/The following table shows latest published performance data for ambulance response times in England, broken down by ambulance category:Ambulance categoryPerformance standardLatest published performance (January 2026)C1 average7 minutes8:08C1 90th centile15 minutes14:27C2 average18 minutes35:04C2 90th centile40 minutes1:13:53C3 90th centile2 hours5:02:09C4 90th centile3 hours6:37:43 Ambulance response times for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are published by their own health services respectively and can be found online. The response time categories and thresholds differ from those used in England, and as such direct comparisons cannot be made. The separate publications for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are available, respectively, at the following three links:https://www.scottishambulance.com/our-board/board-papers/https://jcc.nhs.wales/insighthub/asi/https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/emergency-care-and-ambulance-statistics

Whether he plans to reconsider the criteria for covid vaccination eligibility, in the context of levels of prevalence of new variants.

The Government’s policy on the groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).The aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to prevent serious disease, meaning hospitalisation and/or mortality, arising from COVID-19. Population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity, following recovery from infection, and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant.The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of hospitalisation and mortality in specific groups to provide the Government with advice on the autumn 2025 programme. A more targeted vaccination programme aimed at individuals with a higher risk of developing serious disease was advised for autumn 2025.On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on who should be offered vaccination in autumn 2025. On 26 June 2025, the Government decided, in line with this advice, that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in autumn 2025 to the following groups:- adults aged 75 years old and over;- residents in a care home for older adults; and- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in the ‘immunosuppression’ sections of tables three or four in the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Green Book.The UKHSA advises that currently, XFG and its sub lineages, sometimes called the ‘Stratus’ variant, are the most prevalent in England. This lineage is closely related to previous variants that circulated in the United Kingdom. At this time there is no indication that XFG causes more serious disease, or that the vaccines being used in the autumn 2025 campaign will not be effective against it. The UKHSA will continue to monitor both COVID-19 outcomes and variant prevalence as we enter the winter season.This means that while the JCVI keeps the available data under regular review, there are no plans to offer vaccination through the national programme outside these JCVI advised groups for autumn 2025. All those individuals who are eligible are encouraged to take up the offer of vaccination.

What information his Department holds on levels of budget deficits at NHS trusts in Yorkshire in 2024-2025; and what estimate he has made of levels of funding for each NHS trust in Yorkshire in 2025-2026.

There are three integrated care boards (ICBs) in Yorkshire: the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB; the NHS South Yorkshire ICB; and the NHS West Yorkshire ICB. All trusts in these ICBs are projecting to deliver their plan or surpluses, apart from the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, which have provisional overspends against their plans of £19.6 million and £7.5 million respectively. Final figures for all trusts and ICBs will be published in due course, following external audit and validation. ICB allocations for 2025/26 were published on 30 January 2025, with further information available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/allocation-of-resources-2025-26/The three ICBs have agreed balanced plans across their systems, including providers. Routine in-year reporting data on progress against the plans by organisation is not yet available. The following table shows the total allocation for all three ICBs:ICBTotal allocationNHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB£3,646,033,000NHS South Yorkshire ICB£3,108,129,000NHS West Yorkshire ICB£5,266,745,000

How many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.

The Department has seconded no staff from Hakluyt since July 2024.

How many of his Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.

The Department has seconded no individuals from the aforementioned institutions since July 2024.

How many staff his Department has seconded from Palantir since July 2024.

Since July 2024 no employees have been seconded to the Department from Palantir.

How many A&E Departments have permanently closed since 2010; and if he will list them.

The information requested is not held centrally.

What steps she is taking to reduce trends in the level of sudden cardiac death amongst (a) school and (b) university aged young people.

In 2017, NHS England published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions (ICC), which defines the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England. This specification covers young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease. The aim of ICC services is to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of patients with ICCs. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification, working with a broad range of stakeholders as part of the review, including NHS clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice, and the British Heart Foundation.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a programme of routine ECG heart screening in schools and universities.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) last reviewed screening for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019, and concluded that screening should not be offered. Further information on this review is available at the following link:https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/sudden-cardiac-death/Research showed that the current tests are not accurate enough to use in young people without symptoms, and that treatments and interventions were not based on good scientific evidence to prevent SCD.To stop SCDs in young people, the current consensus is to focus on rapid identification and care of people who are likely to be at risk of SCD due to a family link or because they have had symptoms, and to train people to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to use defibrillators.NHS England has published guidance for inherited cardiac conditions which requires services to investigate patients with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease, suggestive symptoms, or from families with sudden unexplained deaths. Where a genetic variation is identified, cascade testing is offered to relatives based on risk.We are aware that the UK NSC has received a submission via its annual call process to consider SCD screening in young people aged 14 to 35 years old who engage in sport. The UK NSC is currently reviewing all annual call proposals. More information on the annual call process can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-annual-call-submitting-a-screening-proposal/uk-nsc-annual-call-how-to-submit-a-proposal

How much his Department has spent on consultants since 5 July 2024.

Information regarding expenditure on consultants for the period since 5 July 2024 for the core Department is unavailable, as it is currently unaudited. Fully audited figures for the year from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 will be available upon the publication of the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) next year. The Accountability Report within the ARA includes a table on expenditure for Consultancy, Agency and Temporary workers.