Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to ensure that more young people are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Schools can choose whether to cover this topic as part of their curriculum. The non-statutory framework for Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education produced by the PSHE Association provides a context for teaching young people about emergency lifesaving skills (ELS) and resuscitation.

At primary level, pupils can learn about basic emergency procedures and where to get help, and at secondary level they can develop the skills to cope with emergency situations that require basic first aid procedures, including resuscitation techniques.

The Department for Education is encouraging schools to purchase defibrillators as part of their first aid equipment, and is currently working in partnership with the Department of Health and stakeholders to identify a supplier of defibrillators at a competitive price. An announcement is expected in early December.