Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the finding of the recent British Red Cross research report <i>Are prehospital deaths from trauma and accidental injury preventable? </i>that up to 59 per cent of pre-hospital deaths from injury, many of them occurring on UK's roads, could have been prevented with basic first aid, whether they are considering making attendance at a first aid course mandatory in order to acquire a driving licence in the UK.

There are no plans to make attendance at a first aid course mandatory to acquire a driving licence. It would restrict people’s mobility and access to jobs and education that a driving licence often unlocks.

Driver’s knowledge of first aid is already tested as part of the driver theory test and many professional drivers take first aid training. The Department is providing support for a not-for-profit training programme for drivers in administering first aid.