Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2020 to Question 32254, how many working CoVent ventilation devices have been provided by Dyson to the NHS; how much has been spent from the public purse on the production of those devices; and what proportion of that spending has been returned to the Government by Dyson.

The Ventilator Challenge has manufactured safe, easy-to-use and effective devices to meet the UK’s need for mechanical ventilators to fight COVID-19. The Challenge is a key part of the UK’s overall strategy to rapidly increase the number of mechanical ventilators for the NHS. This includes buying more ventilators from abroad, stepping up UK production and calling on the best of British manufacturing to build new devices. We have exceeded our target of building up ventilator stocks to 18,000 and everyone who has needed a ventilator has been able to access one.

Dyson were the manufacturing partner for The Technology Partnership (TTP), a specialist medical consultancy, who were funded to develop a new ventilator design. As we announced on 8 May, the Government ceased support for the product. No monies have been paid to Dyson.