Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release entitled Number of defibrillators to be increased with new funding, published by his Department on 29 December 2022, when his Department plans to invite interested parties to bid for this grant funding.

The Department is currently in the pre-procurement stage in its process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund. The Department will publish shortly an invitation for organisations to bid for the fund through GOV.UK. It is anticipated that a contract will be awarded to a supplier to expand defibrillator access in the community by August 2023.