Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that each school and public building has an accessible defibrillator.

The government knows how important swift access to defibrillators can be in cases of cardiac arrest. That is why we are encouraging schools to purchase a defibrillator as part of their first-aid equipment. To help enable schools to do so, the Department for Education have negotiated a deal with NHS Supply Chain to offer defibrillators to schools at a reduced cost, and have published advice on installing and maintaining defibrillators on school premises.

Since this scheme was launched in 2014, over 1800 schools have purchased defibrillators through this route. We continue to work with the sector to raise awareness of the scheme and to refine our guidance to schools on installing and maintaining these devices.

In addition, the Chancellor announced in the budget in March that the government is making available another £1 million to make public access defibrillators and coronary pulmonary resuscitation training more widely available in communities across England. This builds on last year’s funding of £1 million, which provided almost 700 more publicly accessible defibrillators in communities across England and increased the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.