ALL high school pupils in north-west Glasgow are to be trained in life-saving CPR, it has been announced.

Glasgow will be the first city in the UK to make the training mandatory and create a legacy of thousands of new potential lifesavers each year.

Council officials said they would work with British Heart Foundation Scotland, secondary teachers and others to put a plan in place similar to strategies in Norway, Denmark and Seattle.

Only one in 20 people will survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest, compared to one in 10 for the rest of the UK. For every minute without CPR, survival drops by 10 per cent. Mandatory lessons in Denmark have helped the country achieve a one-in-four survival rate.

The Scottish Government has a target to equip an extra 500,000 more people with CPR skills by 2020, which estimates suggest could save an additional 1,000 lives.

Glasgow's decision comes after a campaign by our sister paper, the Evening Times.

Chris Cunningham, Garscadden/Scotstounhill councillor and convener of education, skills and early years, said: “Glasgow schools have for many years offered a range of CPR and first aid training to pupils from P6 upwards, as part of BHFs Heartstart programme and delivered by our teachers.

“We are delighted now to take this partnership to another level and work with BHF and the Evening Times ‘Glasgow’s Got Heart’ campaign and make a promise to start to formulate a plan, timescale and delivery method to ensure that secondary pupils, at an appropriate stage in the curriculum, all receive CPR training.

“Discussions will now take place with secondary headteachers and education officers to agree a structure that will in the long term equip our young people with the valuable skills to help to save lives in our city.”

Dr Linda de Caestecker, director of public health for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “I’m delighted Glasgow City Council is leading the way in the UK.

“The unfortunate fact remains that Glaswegians are still more likely to die of a cardiac arrest than anywhere else in the country.

“We’re moving in the right direction towards changing this but still have some way to go.”

Green Councillor Martin Bartos, who lodged a motion four years ago calling for the change, said: "Learning how to help, helps kids to help others in our big-hearted city.“

Glasgow Anniesland MSP Bill Kidd added: “Very well done to the Evening Times for being so consistent and caring in keeping this campaign to the forefront of all our minds – this will save lives.”