Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of avoidable asthma attacks.

As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, pharmacists in primary care networks will undertake a range of medicine reviews for patients, including educating patients on the correct use of inhalers, and encouraging uptake of dry powder and smart inhalers where clinically appropriate.

To enable people with respiratory disease to better self-manage their condition, the NHS Cardiovascular disease-Respiratory programme will develop and test flexible learning options for people with respiratory conditions. The British Lung Foundation will be a key partner in the development and testing of this programme.

In addition, earlier this year the Government launched the Clean Air Strategy, which sets out plans for dealing with all sources of air pollution to save lives. To inform the public on expected short-term increases in air pollution levels, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs produces daily air pollution forecasts for five pollutants (nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, and particles measured as PM10 and PM2.5) and communicates this to the public using the Daily Air Quality Index.