How many children have received life-saving skills training each year for the last 3 years, and what financial support has the Welsh Government provided in each of these years to support the rollout of these skills?
As lifesaving skills can be taught in a variety of community and educational settings, we are unable to provide a breakdown of the number of children who have been trained. The Welsh Government has provided no direct funding.
Lifesaving skills are an important part of education in Wales and I am pleased that over 99% of maintained schools are participating in the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes. Safety is one of the scheme’s 7 topics and requires curriculum schemes of work to cover first aid.
The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust joined the wider UK ‘Restart a Heart’ campaign on 18 October 2016, in which 43 secondary schools and 7,216 secondary school children were taught lifesaving skills. Additionally, over 200 primary schools, equating to 9,500 children, taught the same skills throughout October as part of the ‘Shoctober’ campaign.
A total of 66 schools across Wales have signed up for this year’s ‘Restart a Heart’ event, which is being delivered in conjunction with the Resuscitation Council UK and the British Heart Foundation.