Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of access to defibrillators in (a) Halton and (b) Cheshire West and Cheshire.

No assessment has been made on the adequacy of access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the Halton and Cheshire West and Cheshire. The Government is committed to improving access to AEDs in public spaces, and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available from August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply and will go to applications for AEDs in areas where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs.