Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of school absences attributable to asthma in each of the last five academic years.

The department does not hold the data requested.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, including those with asthma. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed.

From 1 October 2014, the Human Medicines (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2014 permitted schools to buy salbutamol inhalers for use in emergencies, without a prescription. The emergency salbutamol inhaler should only be used by children who have been prescribed an inhaler and if the pupil’s prescribed inhaler is not available, for example, because it is broken or empty.

Schools are not required to hold an inhaler. This is a discretionary power enabling schools to hold salbutamol inhalers to help them fulfil their duties to support pupils with medical conditions. Schools that choose to keep an emergency inhaler should establish a policy or protocol for the use of the emergency inhaler based on the ‘Emergency asthma inhales for use in schools’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-asthma-inhalers-for-use-in-schools.