Early Day Motion 945

Defibrillators in police vehicles

Tabled 13 October 2026 by Steve Darling

That this House expresses alignment with the APPG for Defibrillators' recommendation that all emergency vehicles should be fitted with defibrillators; notes concern that only 1 in 11 police cars carry automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and some forces have coverage of less than 1.5% of vehicles; recognises that police officers are often among the first emergency responders at incidents of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), particularly in rural areas, at road traffic accidents, public cardiac arrests, and domestic incidents; further notes that Resuscitation Council UK highlights that defibrillation within three to five minutes of collapse can produce survival rates of 50-70%, significantly above the UK OHCA survival rate; also notes that 27% of the most deprived areas have a public-access defibrillator compared with 45% of the most affluent areas; believes that consistent AED provision in police response vehicles could help to reduce inequalities in access and improve the effectiveness of OHCA response; and calls on the Government, in light of the Minister for Policing and Crime’s comments during the Westminster Hall debate on 8 July 2026, to use the establishment of the National Police Service and its national procurement functions to introduce a national minimum standard for AEDs in operational police response vehicles.

Signatories (19)