Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2020 to Question 61474 on NHS: Ventilators and the Chancellor's summer economic update of 8 July 2020, how much of the £1 billion allocated to procure additional ventilators to support the NHS has been spent on acquiring additional stock.

Of the £1 billion allocated for the procurement of additional ventilators, around £280 million has been spent by the Department on the purchase of established ventilator models and other breathing support devices and £292 million has been spent by the Cabinet Office on the purchase of new ventilators as part of the Ventilator Challenge. The Government has now exceeded its target of increasing the number of mechanical ventilators available to the National Health Service to 30,000. This is more than three times the number available at the beginning of March and ensures the NHS is well prepared to meet any future need.