Life-saving ‘bleed kits’ are set to be distributed to schools across Scotland in response to an alarming wave of violence in the classroom.

The kits contain emergency equipment to help stem blood loss if pupils or staff are slashed or stabbed, buying precious time until an ambulance arrives.

Routinely carried by battlefield medics and 999 crews, the packs typically include a tourniquet and specialist dressings.

Justice Secretary Neil Gray said he is consulting with various bodies on ‘how bleeding control kits are rolled out to community settings’.

The move follows a manifesto pledge by the SNP to introduce the kits to public areas ‘including high schools, supermarkets, community centres and parks’.

Opposition politicians say the measure would not be necessary if more action was taken to prevent violence in schools. Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr said: ‘This is a welcome step forward and the government must move urgently to roll out these kits.

‘However, it is a damning indictment of the SNP’s failure to crack down on the epidemic of classroom violence that they should be required in schools at all. There must be an immediate rethink of the policies and penalties around this issue.’

Bleed kits have been widely distributed around public spaces in England, including in schools, after a campaign by grieving parent Lynne Baird of Birmingham, whose son Daniel was fatally stabbed in 2017.

A campaign for publicly accessible kits to be introduced in Scotland was started by Lisa Petrie of Edinburgh, after her 22-year-old son John McNab was stabbed to death in September by a teenager armed with a hunting knife.

A 17-year-old thug, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was last month given a life sentence for the unprovoked attack which took place in Leith. Since John’s death, his mother has raised funds to pay for dozens of bleed kits which she has distributed to public places in Edinburgh. The 44-year-old care support worker previously told how she is campaigning for change on behalf of her son.

She said: ‘I need to do it for John. He has given me the strength to keep going. John was never in trouble. He never carried a weapon, he wasn’t the troublemaker. It’s just not fair.

‘I don’t want another family to go through the same thing.’

She has also lobbied Holyrood for stricter controls on the sale of knives, calling for them to be removed from shelves and placed in locked cabinets behind shop counters, allowing strict age verification and reducing the risk of theft. A petition she started calling for tighter security around knife sales has been signed by tens of thousands of people.

Confirming the Scotland-wide rollout, Mr Gray said that the government had been inspired by Ms Petrie.

He said: ‘My heartfelt condolences go to Lisa Petrie for the heartbreaking loss of her son, John. I commend Lisa on the work she has been doing to educate young people on the dangers of carrying knives as well as her campaign to roll out bleed kits which helped inform our commitment. The Scottish Government will now engage with partners to inform how bleeding control kits are rolled out to community settings and engage with areas which have already done so.’

The move comes amid rising concern about classroom violence and a jump in the number of young people carrying knives.

In March, worrying figures showed that the number of violent incidents in Scotland’s secondary schools has risen four-fold, from 1,668 a year in 2019/20 to 6,809 in 2024/25. Meanwhile, in a survey carried out last year for the NASUWT union, 83 per cent of teachers said the number of pupils exhibiting physically violent and abusive behaviour had increased over the previous 12 months.

More than a third said they had been assaulted with a weapon, such as a knife, scissors, a hockey stick or a chair.

Bleed kits are emergency first-aid packs designed to control catastrophic blood loss in the critical minutes before paramedics arrive.

Uncontrolled bleeding from deep lacerations, amputations or stabbings can be fatal in as little as three to five minutes.

The kits can also be used to treat injuries after a car crash or other types of accident.

Most include a tourniquet to stop arterial bleeding, gauze impregnated with a special clotting agent to pack deep wounds, reinforced scissors for cutting away clothing and special bandages for maintaining pressure on the wound.

Mr Gray said: ‘The Scottish Government’s public health approach to violence has prevention at its core and our focus is aimed at preventing and reducing harm for people in Scotland’s communities.’

Officials said further details of the rollout would be disclosed at a later date.