MP brands year-long delay in Government response over air ambulance ‘shameful’
A Lincolnshire MP has challenged the Government about why she and fellow MPs from the county are still waiting after more than a year for answers to questions about the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.
Dr Caroline Johnson, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham raised the lack of Government response in Parliament on Monday (November 24) after a letter was sent to ministers on November 19, 2024 from eight Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire MPs.
Following the Government’s first Budget last year, Dr Johnson, along with Robert Jenrick, Victoria Atkins, Sir Edward Leigh, Gareth Davies, Alicia Kearns, Sir John Hayes and Richard Tice wrote to the Chancellor to highlight the impact of increases to employer National Insurance contributions for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance and other air ambulance charities.
They cited how Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance charity, which receives no Government or NHS funding for its services, would need to find another £70,000 just to pay the national insurance rises alone.
The local MPs pressed the Chancellor to exempt these charities, and stressed their life-saving work of significant value to the NHS.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Dr Johnson said: “Shamefully, despite it being chased repeatedly by my office, by raising it in this House repeatedly and raising it with the Members of the Procedure Committee, we still have had no reply.
“This is Government showing huge disrespect for this House, and for people right across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.”
In response, Deputy Speaker, Nusrat Ghani, said: “Government Departments must reply promptly to questions and one whole year is very shameful indeed.
“The delay outlined by the Honourable Member would suggest that something has gone seriously wrong in the Treasury in relation to answering this question.
“I suggest she also asks the chair of the Procedure Committee to look into this matter because nobody should be waiting one whole year for correspondence.”
The air ambulance costs approximately £13 million per year to run, with an average of four potentially life-saving flights per day – each costing £4,000.