Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the provision of defibrillators at grassroots football clubs.

Events at both UEFA EURO 2020 earlier this year and more recently at Newcastle United have demonstrated the immense value of access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and first aid training for anyone involved in sport. Sports have a responsibility to make the safety and welfare of players their top priority, including through access to life-saving first aid equipment and relevant training and education.

At the grassroots level, all capital funding awards for sports venues made by Sport England, the Government’s arm’s length body for community sport, must include AED provision if it is not already available.

For football facilities, support over recent years has been provided by The Football Association (The FA) and the British Heart Foundation to help ensure AEDs are available. In June 2021 I welcomed the Premier League’s announcement of their new Defibrillator Fund, which will fund AEDs at thousands of football clubs and facilities across the country. Each grant recipient will be required to have at least one person successfully complete The FA Education Sudden Cardiac Arrest free online course. Sport England is working with the Football Foundation in support of the Premier League initiative to put £3 million into providing AED equipment for grassroots football clubs.

The Defibrillator Fund will see AEDs provided to Football Foundation funded facilities which currently are without a device onsite. A second phase of the project will allow grassroots clubs that own their facilities to apply for funding for a defibrillator.