Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost of building the Government's planned national network of defibrillators; and what proportion of that cost his Department will cover.

No estimate has been made as the Government has not funded the network. We have encouraged communities and organisations in England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of first aid equipment, particularly in locations where there are high concentrations of people. Many community defibrillators have since been provided in public locations through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities.