Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how his Department estimates the potential cost to the public purse of removing VAT on (a) defibrillators and (b) other products.

The cost of relieving VAT on defibrillators is uncertain owing to the lack of data on purchases of defibrillators and associated apparatus, and on purchasers who are able to reclaim the VAT on these purchases. Businesses are not required to provide information at a product level in their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden; HMRC does not therefore hold this data. All taxes are kept under review; any policy measure would be costed in the usual way.