Ministers splashed more than £1.5 million on brand new iPhones for Department of Health staff last year, it is estimated - more than the budget for new defibrillators across England.
Health Minister Will Quince revealed the department purchased 1,570 brand new iPhone 13s for Whitehall staff in 2022, and 650 iPhone SEs.
Based on a minimum price of £749 for the iPhone 13 and £449 for the iPhone SE, these state-of-the-art smartphones would have cost at least £1,467,780, Labour says
Meanwhile Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced his department was setting aside just £1 million for new defibrillators - with community groups taking part in a bidding process for the lifesaving equipment.
Labour's Shadow Attorney General, Emily Thornberry, said: “You have to question not just the misplaced priorities but the warped mentality of ministers at the Department of Health, when they are willing to spend £550,000 more on buying the latest iPhones for their own staff than on installing defibrillators in our local communities.
"How can they believe it’s more important to give half the officials in their Whitehall offices a brand new iPhone than it is to give life-saving equipment to the communities that need it."
Last year the department averaged just under 4,000 staff in its core Whitehall team - meaning one in every workers got a new iPhone.
It was a 450% increase in the number of iPhone purchases compared to 2021.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “It is important that our staff have access to the appropriate tools and resources to do their jobs effectively.
“The purchase in 2022 was required to replace iPhones that could no longer receive vendor updates and represented a cyber vulnerability.”
The phone purchases came to light in an answer to a question by Ms Thornberry by Mr Quince.
He said that other models of phone were also purchased in this period.
Each year an estimated 30,000 people suffer a heart attack outside of hospital but only one in 10 of them survive.
That is why the Mirror launched a campaign for defibrillators to be installed in public spaces across the country.
If these machines were available in sports clubs, gyms, community centres and libraries, hundreds of lives could be saved.
In December funding for defibrillators was announced, with the Government saying it welcomed applications from community groups, who would have to show why they are needed in a particular place.
Mr Barclay said at the time: "We must make sure these life-saving devices are more accessible, with our new £1 million fund expected to place around 1,000 new defibrillators in communities across England."
