Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of defibrillators in local areas.

NHS England and NHS Improvement and St John Ambulance are co-ordinating the development of skills to increase the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by individuals in community settings, supported by confident cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. This will include a national network of community advocates to champion the importance of first aid and train 60,000 people to save up to 4,000 lives each year by 2028.

The Government encourages organisations across England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of first aid equipment, particularly in locations with a high concentration of people. Many community defibrillators have since been provided through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities in locations such as shopping centres.