Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the benefits of teaching first aid in schools on public health outcomes.

Edward Timpson

This Government believes that the teaching of first aid skills is important. The Department for Education works closely with expert organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance who provide learning materials to schools, including life-saving training kits produced by the British Heart Foundation. These kits provide young people with first-hand experience of life-saving skills and we have promoted the use of these via the termly school email and social media channels.

How first aid is provided is up to teachers and is taught as part of personal, social, health and economic (PHSE) education in schools. In line with the continued drive to reduce bureaucracy and burdens on schools, we do not ask schools to routinely collect data on this.