First Aid: Training
Education

Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education

(1) how many (a) teachers and (b) childminders in (i) Swindon and (ii) England are first aid trained;

(2) if he will make it his policy to make it compulsory for teachers to be first aid trained.

Nick Gibb (Minister of State (Schools), Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)

Information on the number of first aid trained teachers is not collected centrally. For child minders it is a condition of registration with Ofsted that they have completed an appropriate paediatric first aid course.

The Health and Safety at Work Act etc. Act 1974 places responsibilities on the employer for making sure that a school has a health and safety policy which should include arrangements for first aid. For community, voluntary controlled, community special, and maintained nursery schools, the employer is the local authority. For foundation schools, foundation special schools, voluntary aided schools, academies and free schools, the employer is the Governing Body (or academy trust). The proprietor is the employer in independent schools.

It is the employer's responsibility to make sure that the statutory requirements for provision of first aiders are met, that appropriate training is provided and that correct procedures are followed. The employer must ensure that there are enough trained staff to meet the statutory requirements and assessed needs, allowing for staff on annual/sick leave or off-site.