A Conservative backbencher will ask the House of Commons on Friday to require schools in England to teach pupils how to control life-threatening bleeding, building on CPR lessons that are already part of the curriculum.
Neil Shastri-Hurst, who represents Solihull West and Shirley, has tabled the Emergency and Life-Saving Skills (Schools) Bill to add “stop the bleed” techniques — pressure, packing and improvised tourniquets — alongside existing first-aid instruction. The measure is scheduled for its second reading debate, but private bills rarely progress without ministerial backing.
What the bill would change
Under Shastri-Hurst’s proposal, pupils would learn to recognize catastrophic hemorrhage and respond before ambulance crews arrive. He told reporters the training could be delivered in 10 to 15 minutes and argued that children would share the skills at home, widening community preparedness after stabbings, road crashes or terror incidents.
The legislation does not replace existing statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education; it would amend the duties on maintained schools and academies in England to specify severe bleeding as a required competency within life-saving modules. Devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own curricula and are not covered by the bill’s text.
Why advocates push “stop the bleed”
Military and pre-hospital medics popularized the phrase after battlefield data showed early hemorrhage control saved lives when transport was delayed. Campaigners in Britain have pointed to knife-crime injuries and road trauma as domestic use cases, noting that bystanders often have only minutes before blood loss becomes irreversible.
Shastri-Hurst said his party had already helped train more than a thousand people through community sessions and framed the schools measure as a way to scale that knowledge without waiting for voluntary uptake. Opposition MPs have not yet signaled wholesale resistance, but Labour ministers have not committed to legislative time, a typical hurdle for backbench health measures.
Parliamentary path
Friday’s debate gives Shastri-Hurst a platform to press the Department for Education on whether existing guidance is sufficient. Even if the bill stalls, supporters may seek non-statutory resources — instructional videos, trainer kits — that academies could adopt without a new Act.
For schools already juggling attendance recovery and SEND pressures, another mandated module raises staffing questions: who delivers the lesson, and how often is it refreshed? The MP’s office has argued the content slots into PE or PSHE blocks and reuses trainers who already teach CPR. Ministers are expected to respond during the debate with the government’s view on whether bleeding control should sit in national standards or remain optional.