Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve survival rates for those who have out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

The Government is committed to improving out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. As part of this commitment, we want to increase access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reduce inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available from August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply and will go to applications for AEDs in areas where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs.