Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Tuesday 17th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

T3. On new year’s eve, my constituent Jamie Rees suffered a cardiac arrest and died, quite simply because the nearest defibrillator was not available—it was locked up in a school building at the time. In his memory, Jamie’s mum, Naomi Rees-Issitt, has set up a JustGiving page called “OurJay” to provide externally mounted defibrillators in and around Rugby, but she points out, quite reasonably, that it should not be left to grieving families to provide them and there should not be a postcode lottery in their availability. What funding can the Government provide to make more defibrillators available?

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lucy Frazer)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and extend my heartfelt condolences to Naomi for the loss of her son. My hon. Friend may be interested to know that NHS England and NHS Improvement, along with the British Heart Foundation, Resuscitation Council UK and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, have developed the Circuit, which is a national defibrillator network that will register defibrillators in the UK and provide an overview of where they can be found. I know that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are interested in this issue, as I met the Prime Minister with my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Ruth Edwards). It is indeed an important issue.