Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of introducing a national register of defibrillators located in (a) football stadiums, (b) sports pitches, (c) gyms and (d) leisure centres.

My Department holds discussions with the Department for Health and Social Care on a variety of matters, including the safety and welfare of those who participate in sport and physical activity.

Events at UEFA EURO 2020 earlier this year demonstrated the immense value of access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and first aid training for anyone involved in sport. Sports facility owners have a responsibility to make the safety and welfare of those who use their facilities their top priority, including through access to life-saving first aid equipment and relevant training and education.

The NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been working in partnership with The British Heart Foundation, the Resuscitation Council UK and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives to set up a pioneering database that will register AEDs across the UK, called The Circuit.

The Circuit will link a UK wide network of AEDs to every ambulance service in the country and the public in a bid to help save more lives from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

Sports venues can register their AEDs via The Circuit (www.thecircuit.uk) and we would encourage them to do so in order to increase the chances of successful life-saving outcomes.