To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has previously supported air ambulance charities with targeted funding support; and if he will provide funding specifically targeted at air ambulance charities.
Answered on
25 May 2023
Air ambulances are not directly funded by the National Health Service. However, the Government has provided significant and sustained support to the sector. In 2019, the Department launched a three year capital grant programme which allocated £10 million to nine air ambulance charities across England, of which London’s Air Ambulance Charity and Barts Health NHS Trust received £1,393,552.
In addition, the Department provided £6 million of COVID-19 emergency funding to all 21 air ambulance charities across the United Kingdom, to ensure that each charity could continue to provide their life-saving services during the pandemic. London’s Air Ambulance Charity received £252,500 of this funding.
There are no current plans to provide further funding to the sector which operates through a longstanding and successful charitable model.