Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential benefits of amending the Human Medicines (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2014 to require (a) colleges, (b) nurseries, and (c) universities to hold emergency asthma inhalers.

There are no plans to amend these regulations to require colleges and universities to hold emergency inhalers. These are not controlled environments like schools, which require parents to inform them if their children need an inhaler. Colleges and universities typically have much larger enrolment numbers than schools, with their students having greater freedom of movement than schools. Colleges and universities also have students of adult age who are responsible, as adults, for ensuring both have and properly use their inhalers.

Emergency inhalers in schools are a back-up and not a substitution for a child having their own inhaler to hand. The emergency inhaler is for use in the event a child’s inhaler is empty, broken or unavailable.

By virtue of the wording of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, the Human Medicines (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2014 also apply to maintained nursery schools, namely state-funded early years settings, controlled and funded by the local authority.

Evidence has not been presented that suggests it is necessary to extend the regulations to all non-state-run nurseries in England. Parents of children with asthma attending nursery should ensure that their child, or the nursery, has the child’s inhaler available.