More than 1,000 schools in Scotland do not have defibrillators, according to “deeply alarming” new data.
Responses to freedom of information requests by the Scottish Conservatives have revealed that 1,062 schools are missing the potentially life-saving equipment - which equates to 40 per cent across the country.
However, the true number - and proportion - is likely to be higher as six of Scotland’s 32 councils did not respond.
The UK government committed to installing a defibrillator in every English school by the end of 2022-23.
The Department for Education said in January 2023 more than 20,000 defibrillators would be sent to almost 18,000 state-funded schools.
The rollout came after campaigning from the Oliver King Foundation and its founder Mark King, whose son died at 12 from a cardiac arrest while swimming at school.
Scottish Conservative education spokesperson Liam Kerr said failure to ensure all Scottish schools had a defibrillator was putting pupil safety at risk.
He called the data “deeply alarming” and said the government should “stump up the money” for the devices if funding was a barrier.
He said: “We know that defibrillators greatly increase the chance of survival from cardiac arrest so the importance of these devices - especially close to school sports halls and playing fields - cannot be overemphasised.
“The SNP should immediately follow the lead of the UK government and commit to installing defibrillators in every Scottish school as soon as possible.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish government is focused on ensuring defibrillators are publicly accessible, and are registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service via the national defibrillator network (The Circuit).
“This will enable anyone witnessing a cardiac arrest to be promptly directed to the nearest publicly accessible defibrillator by the ambulance call handler.”
The spokesperson added: “There are currently more than 7,000 defibrillators across Scotland registered with the Circuit. The Scottish government is committed to improving survival rates from cardiac arrest through our involvement in the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership.”
