Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with teaching unions and relevant education bodies on expanding and standardising CPR and automated external defibrillator training in schools.

All state-funded schools in England are required to teach first aid as part of the mandatory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum. This includes basic first aid for primary school children, for example dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, including how to administer CPR, the purpose of defibrillators and when defibrillators might be needed.

Schools retain flexibility over how to deliver first-aid teaching, including whether to use external organisations or practical demonstrations, provided teaching is age-appropriate and suitable for pupils. The department continues to work with stakeholders, where appropriate, to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of RSHE provision.

The department’s defibrillator programme provided over 20,000 devices to eligible schools and was the largest distribution of defibrillators to date. Defibrillators are designed to be simple and safe to use without prior training. The devices provide clear audio and visual instructions to guide users through each step at the point of use. As part of the rollout, the department provided awareness videos showing how simple defibrillators are to use and encouraged schools to share these videos in staff meetings and assemblies, where appropriate.