Group 2: Life-saving Skills and First Aid (Amendments 1, 3)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:13 pm on 2 March 2021.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 5:13, 2 March 2021

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Well, what we've heard from you, Minister, is your agreement to use statutory guidance—and that's statutory guidance—to oblige schools to teach life-saving skills unless they've got a good reason not to. They should teach them. And I'm so grateful for this, I have to say. This means that schools can't just use excuses like shortage of funds or lack of skills in the school workforce; they just won't wash. There are many organisations that will come into schools and train teachers as well as pupils, and that can provide equipment, either at no cost or at very, very low cost. Of course, while there will always be individual children for whom training would not be appropriate, I challenge any school now to come up with a credible reason why they should not teach our children to save lives.

Minister, I was watching the faces of some of the Members that I can see on the screen, and I think I spotted relief on quite a few of them; there are very many Members in this Senedd who support what I've been trying to achieve with the campaign I've been fighting for the last 10 years; they showed that through support for my legislative proposals some time, some years, ago, but they've also shown their commitment to greater public empowerment in this field by supporting Alun Davies's more recent proposals. Whatever we do today, I hope that Members in the sixth Senedd don't forget what he's done here as well and what he is asking for.

So, on the basis of what you've promised today, Minister, I am not going to put any Members in the difficult position where they have to vote against doing something that they've supported, and that's giving our children these skills. You promised a statutory presumption in favour of life-saving skills, a presumption that it will take some seriously imaginative wriggling to overcome. So, Minister, I think you've done it; schools can't ignore this, so a huge 'thank you' from me. After 10 years of this, this is the best leaving present I could have wished for, I think. Alun, if you are back in May, I hope that you carry the torch on for that other legislation that you rightly ask for. Diolch.