Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of removing value added tax from community-purchased defibrillators.

The current legal framework limits the VAT exemptions the Government can apply. The Government does maintain several VAT reliefs to aid purchases of defibrillators. These include VAT refunds of purchases made by local authorities and VAT relief for purchases made through voluntary contributions which are donated to eligible charities or the NHS.