Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to increase the (a) provision of defibrillators in England and (b) number of people trained in first aid and CPR in England.

The National Health Service is establishing a national network of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and community first responders which aims to save up to 4,000 lives each year by 2028. This will be supported by educating the general public, including young people of school age, on first aid and how to recognise and respond to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

The Government encourages organisations in England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of first aid equipment, particularly for places where there are high concentrations of people. With growing public awareness and acceptance of AEDs, many community defibrillators have since been provided in public locations, including shopping centres, through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities. From May 2020, the Government has required all contractors refurbishing schools or building new ones through centrally delivered programmes, to provide at least one AED on site.