Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of (a) how many schools currently have defibrillators and (b) how many schools are in areas where there is a lack of publicly accessible defibrillators; if he will publish information on school and community defibrillator provision to allow areas of deficit to be identified; and if he will take steps to ensure that every school will have a defibrillator by the 2022-23 school year.

The Department announced in July 2022 that all state funded schools in England would have access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. On 12 September 2022, the Department sent a survey to schools to determine how many AEDs exist across the school estate, and is currently analysing this information to procure AEDs where they are needed and to ensure that there are no gaps in access to these life saving devices. Each school makes a decision on whether to provide public access to AEDs. The Department has published guidance to support schools that wish to provide community access and is working with a number of charities to update this guidance. The Department will provide a written update in due course that will be laid in the libraries of both Houses.