Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for the completion of the procurement process for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund; when he plans to publish further details on the criteria of that fund; and when he plans to open the scheme for applications.

The Department is currently in the pre-procurement stage in its process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund. The criteria for assessing whether proposed recipients are eligible to access the Automated External Defibrillators Fund will be part of the procurement process.

A typical procurement that is compliant with the regulations can take anywhere from three to six months depending on the procurement route chosen.

The Department will publish in due course a notice informing interested organisations of the upcoming opportunity and invite them to bid for the grant through GOV.UK.