To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential benefits of requiring schools to hold emergency asthma inhalers.
Answered on
2 July 2025
Schools are permitted to buy salbutamol inhalers, without a prescription, for use in emergencies. An emergency salbutamol inhaler should only be used by children who have either been diagnosed with asthma and prescribed an inhaler, or who have been prescribed an inhaler as reliever medication and who have written parental consent for use of the emergency inhaler.
Schools are not required to hold an inhaler. If they choose to keep an emergency inhaler, they should establish a policy or protocol for its use based on published guidance available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-asthma-inhalers-for-use-in-schools.