Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will remove VAT from defibrillators in order to make it more affordable for communities to purchase that equipment.

The Government already maintains VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), including VAT relief on purchases made by local authorities and those made through voluntary contributions, where the AED is donated to eligible charities or the NHS. Otherwise, they attract the standard rate of VAT.

Introducing any new VAT reliefs would come at a cost to the Exchequer and the Government has received over £50 billion worth of requests for relief from VAT since the EU referendum.