5. 4. Debate on Members' Legislative Proposals

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:54 pm on 8 February 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 2:54, 8 February 2017

I carefully cut the grape in half and I fed one half very carefully to my precious child. She sucked out the contents and then proceeded to choke on the skin. I was utterly terrified. My CPR training—learnt when I was a rescue diver, in the days when I was younger and fitter—completely went out of my head. Thankfully my husband was present and he saved our little girl’s life. Today she is 14. I can tell you now, she does not and has not learnt any lifesaving skills at school, but she’s learnt them from her mummy and her daddy, and she will grow up to be an adult who, perhaps, won’t panic if the same thing happens to her—if her child were to choke on a grape.

I utterly support this campaign, as a mum and as a parent. I also support it with a bit of an education hat on, because I believe really firmly that we need to build resilient children. This is a debate that Lynne Neagle will be bringing to the Chamber later on today. When they’re at school, the more little skills we can give them, the more little bits added into that jigsaw puzzle, it builds confidence, builds resilience, builds determination. I think that this is something that we can easily add into the curriculum. I’ve heard before the cries of, ‘The curriculum is already really crowded’. But it’s about putting in priorities and it’s about really cleaving to Donaldson’s new six strands, and this would fit very well into those six strands. It’s a skill that, once you have learnt it—providing the panic doesn’t set in—you can use time and time again. But I would emphasise that we also need to build in constant re-teaching. It’s been a long time since I had to do CPR on anyone and I wouldn’t mind learning again. I think this is a wonderful idea and I do hope that the Government will allow Suzy Davies the opportunity to take this forward and explore it in more detail. Thank you.