§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department collects on the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service. [159833]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 11 March 2004]: The Department collects information about volume of service and performance against required standards; details of the returns ire in the statistical bulletin "Ambulance Service, England: 2002–03". A copy is available in the Library and also on the internet at www.publications.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0313.htm.
394WThe Department also collects ambulance expenditure returns. The purpose of the returns is to identify total expenditure incurred in the running of ambulance services, and to analyse the breakdown between emergency, non emergency and costs.
§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps have been taken to monitor the performance of Mersey Regional Ambulance Service since 26 November 2003; [159834]
(2) what discussions his officials have had with (a) the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service and (b) Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority about improving the performance of the ambulance service since 26 November 2003. [159835]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 11 March 2004]: Departmental officials have held discussions with the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority (SHA), as part of a regular review of performance across a full range of issues. The responsibility for performance management of national health service trusts lies with the SHAs.
§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls Mersey Regional Ambulance Service(a) failed to answer within two minutes and (b) took more than five minutes to answer in each month since October 2003. [159836]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 11 March 2004]: This information is not collected centrally.