To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the average cost of non-emergency ambulance journeys.

Information in the form requested is not available centrally. However, the average costs per patient carried and per mile in England for 1986–87, the latest figures currently available, are £13.78 and £1·90 respectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the numbers of patients transported by the ambulance service in the most recent year for which figures are available in (a) emergency situations and (b) non-emergency situations.

The number of emergency and non-emergency patient journeys for 1987–88, by ambulance authority, is given in the table. One patient journey is defined as a single trip to, or return from, a place where a patient receives medical care or treatment.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received in favour of opening to competitive tender the management and organisation of the routine transport ambulance service.

We have received no such representations. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply my hon. Friend gave to hon. Member for Warrington, North (Mr. Hoyle) on 30 November 1989, at column 411.