Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for the appointment of a new partner to manage the distribution of funds to increase the number of automated external defibrillators in communities; and when he expects the scheme to be open for grant applications.

The Department is currently in the pre-procurement stage in its process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund.

A typical procurement that is compliant with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 can take between three to six months depending on the procurement route chosen.

The Department will publish in due course a notice informing interested organisations of the upcoming opportunity and invite them to bid for the grant through GOV.UK.