Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the level of availability of adrenaline auto injectors in schools.

To provide specific support for pupils with allergies, the Department of Health recently released new guidance on the use of adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) in schools. This follows the publication of the Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017, which allows schools to hold spare AAIs, without a prescription, for use in emergencies. The revised regulations came into effect on 1 October 2017.

Schools are not required to hold AAIs. It is a discretionary change enabling schools to do so if they wish. Any AAIs held by a school should be considered a spare device and not a replacement for a pupil’s own AAI. The government has not made a recent assessment of the level of availability of AAIs in schools.