Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the Exchequer of exempting defibrillators from VAT liability.

The Government provides support to aid the purchase of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) through VAT refunds on purchases made by local authorities and VAT reliefs for purchases 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. Given this, there are no plans to change the current VAT treatment on defibrillators. However, the Government keeps all taxes under constant review.