Compulsory first aid education - every child is a potential lifesaver

Imagine yourself in a situation where you are out with a friend who collapses. Would you know what to do to help?  Unfortunately the chances are, if you attended a state-funded secondary school, you may leave at the end with a clutch of good qualifications, but without the lifesaving skills to know what to do in an emergency.

Figures for last year show that in London alone, paramedics attended 10,211 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests but only in a quarter of these incidents did members of the public attempt CPR.

I am certain that it is not because people don’t care, but rather that they are worried they do not have the skills, or they may believe their intervention might make things worse. That is why I am bringing forward a Private Member's Bill to make sure that all children in state-funded secondary schools have the chance to learn lifesaving skills.

Less than a quarter of secondary schools teach their pupils first aid. That means the vast majority of children going through school  never learn these vital skills. A 30-minute lesson in CPR could save someone’s life.

The Bill is drafted specifically to allow schools  real flexibility in how these skills are taught – they can use first aid-trained teachers, external providers or free online resources.

The lessons themselves can fall under PE, PSHE or even be delivered through assemblies. It would be headteachers and governors determining what is taught. And there are no assessment or attainment targets to be set, so as not to overburden schools.

The coalition government passed a bill earlier this year called the ‘Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015’. It attempts to redraw the relationship between bystanders and people suffering medical emergencies. Bystanders shouldn’t be intimidated by emergencies and they shouldn’t fear the consequences if they intervene sincerely but don't manage to save a life.

My Bill mutually supports that Act, making it more likely that bystanders will have the confidence to take action, based on the teaching they will have received at school.

I am very heartened that the bill has attracted cross-party support and is also supported by the British Red Cross, the British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance, the Resuscitation Council, the Parent-Teacher Association, and others. Surveys have shown that 95% of parents and 97% of 11-16 year olds believe emergency first aid should be taught at secondary school, and 84% of secondary teachers agreed it should be taught on the school curriculum.

Private Member's Bills represent a unique opportunity to make a difference by allowing individual MPs a chance at changing the law. Having spoken to dozens of people whose lives have been transformed by first aid – people who are only alive today because somebody present had the skills to act – I am convinced that this cause is vital.

The Bill faces its first vote in Parliament this Friday November 20, and I am urging all colleagues to attend the Chamber and to support it to the next stage. The Bill would make sure that – for the very first time – the vast majority of children will have the opportunity to learn vital emergency first aid skills. It is not an exaggeration to say that if the Bill were successful, it could mean the difference between life and death sometime in the future.