Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to improve the automated external defibrillator training in first aid training to include (a) how to (a) identify a sudden cardiac arrest and (b) administer a defibrillator safely and successfully.

All state funded schools in England are required to teach first aid as part of statutory health education which includes basic first aid. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid; for example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators. Schools may also incorporate further defibrillator awareness and training materials to support this as part of the wider curriculum.

In 2022, the Department announced it would provide automated external defibrillators to schools in England to plug local gaps and provide more schools and local communities access to first-aid equipment.

On 20 January 2023, the Department announced that the first deliveries of defibrillators had taken place. More information on the announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defibrillator-deliveries-begin-for-all-schools-that-need-one. Since this announcement, as part of the ongoing rollout, the Department has delivered over 6,900 defibrillators to state funded schools.

The Department is reviewing the statutory guidance which will cover the full scope of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance and the Department will gather evidence from a wide range of stakeholders. The Department will consult publicly on an amended draft in the autumn, to conclude by the end of the year. The amended guidance will be published soon after in early 2024.

As part of the Ofsted assessment of a school’s support for pupils’ personal development, inspectors make a professional judgement on whether the school is providing appropriate and effective teaching in the range of curriculum subjects, including RSHE. Schools are accountable for what they teach and should ensure that all RSHE content is factual, age appropriate and suitable for their pupils. As part of their personal development judgement, inspectors would discuss with schools whether they teach RSHE content in line with the RSHE statutory guidance.