To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 11 December 2007, Official Report, columns 493-94W, on ambulance services: Hampshire, how he monitors ambulance trusts' performance against response time targets; and if he will make a statement. (175409)

National health service ambulance trusts are required to meet the following response times:

Category A (presenting conditions which may be immediately life threatening): calls should be responded to within eight minutes irrespective of location, in 75 per cent. of cases. A fully equipped ambulance should also attend incidents classified as category A within 19 minutes of a request being made for transport, 95 per cent. of the time.

Category B (presenting conditions which though serious are not immediately life threatening): calls should be responded to within 19 minutes in 95 per cent. of cases.

Response time data are collected by ambulance trusts and published annually. The latest statistical bulletin, Ambulance Services, England, 2006-07 was published in June 2007. A copy is available in the Library.

Since 1 October 2004 local NHS organisations have had responsibility for managing and monitoring the ways in which local services respond to Category C (presenting conditions which are not immediately serious or life threatening) calls.