Campaign Responses

Dear Mr Wood,
Thank you for your email. CPR saves lives and I am grateful for your own commitment as a community responder. I agree that it is important that it is as widely taught as possible.

All state-funded schools in England have to teach basic life-saving skills, including how to administer CPR, as part of health education in the secondary phase – the relevant Department for Education (DfE) guidance setting this out is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/physical-health-and-mental-wellbeing-primary-and-secondary

There is no requirement to teach CPR to primary age pupils, and the guidance says CPR is best taught after the age of 12. Technically, health education (and therefore CPR) is not part of the national curriculum, but the national curriculum in any case only currently applies to maintained schools. Most secondary schools, and many primaries, are now academies.

There is an ongoing review of the national curriculum in England, and the government is planning to require that it’s taught in all state-funded schools (including academies). There is a current call for evidence as part of the curriculum review, and individuals can also register to attend a series of online events and webinars. Details about how to submit evidence to the review, or register for the events, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review

I trust this is of interest. I will of course keep your views in mind when these issues are discussed in Parliament.

Kind regards
Sarah

Dear David,
Thank you for getting in touch to highlight the vital issue of raising awareness around CPR. Improving health and wellbeing is at the centre of the Mayor’s ambition for South Yorkshire. As such I have passed on this correspondence to the Mayor’s Health Advisor.
I completely agree with you about the importance of this life-saving intervention, and I appreciate the statistics you’ve shared, which underline just how critical timely CPR can be in improving survival rates.
Beyond raising awareness of CPR, I believe it is equally important to focus on preventing heart disease in the first place. This includes promoting healthy diets, supporting people to stop smoking, and encouraging physical activity. There is some hugely exciting work underway in South Yorkshire to put us in the vanguard of national best practice around better early screening and prevention.
We also want to ensure that people feel empowered to seek medical help early if they experience symptoms of heart disease and take advantage of health checks like blood pressure and cholesterol screenings. By bringing healthcare services into communities, we aim to make these checks more accessible to everyone. The diagnostic centres as part of Health on the High Street ambitions in Barnsley are a great example of that work.
Thank you again for raising this important issue.
Kind regards,
Andrew Gates
Director of Development, Collaboration and Culture

Email from Sarah Champion MP

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