Ambulance Service (Hansard, 14 February 2003)

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hoax calls the Ambulance Service has received in the last 12 months for which figures are available in(a) Greater London and (b) England. [97822]

§ Mr. Lammy
This information is not collected centrally.

§ David Davis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many ambulances are owned by TENYAS; and how many were fully operational in each of the past 12 months; [93781]
(2)(a) how many fully equipped ambulances there were in TENYAS, (b) how many ambulances there were in TENYAS per 1,000 of population and (c) what the average number of ambulances per 1,000 of population was for each ambulance service in the United Kingdom in each year since 1997. [93843]

§ Jacqui Smith
On average, Tyne, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service national health service trust (TENYAS) owns up to 100 accident and emergency vehicles, together with 15 rapid response vehicles. The number of vehicles owned by TENYAS fluctuates as new vehicles become available and others await different routes of disposal, either by being sent to auction, passed on to charities or in some cases being scrapped.
25W
TENYAS has on average peak development of 72 fully equipped ambulances serving a population of two million. This represents on average one ambulance per head of 28,000 population. Information for the number of ambulances per 1,000 of population is not centrally available.

§ David Davis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training is given to personnel manning first responder vehicles. [93844]

§ Mr. Lammy
It is the responsibility of each ambulance trust to provide training for personnel manning first responder vehicles.

§ Dr. Julian Lewis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answers of 6 February, refs 95639–95642, about 999 calls made to the London Ambulance Service about people needing emergency help in another part of the country, for what reasons callers are not told that(a) the London Ambulance Service has responsibility to pass on the details of the emergency to the ambulance service in the area concerned and (b) that this can and will be done. [97418]

§ Mr. Lammy
[holding answer 11 February 2003]: The 999 system is designed to put callers in touch with the emergency services locally. If an ambulance service receives a call that is outside their area then it is their responsibility to pass it on to the ambulance service in the appropriate area.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) believes that it may cause unnecessary confusion if 999 callers are given details of the responsibility to pass on information to other ambulance services and that such an explanation of procedures could create delays in responding to emergency calls.
The LAS believes that an assurance that an ambulance is on its way is more important than knowing what its responsibilities are according to national control procedures. Therefore the LAS has no plans to begin informing callers of its responsibility to pass on details of an emergency to the ambulance service in the area concerned.