Daily roundup: Asthma, adoptions and child protection inspections

The number of children taken to hospital with asthma symptoms fell after the smoking ban came in to effect, research has found. A study published by Imperial College London shows 12 per cent fewer children were admitted in the first year following the introduction of legislation in July 2007. “We think that exposing children to less second-hand smoke in these settings probably played in important role in reducing asthma attacks,” said Christopher Millett of the School of Public Health at the university.

Children face the prospect of growing up without a family because of factors including their ethnicity and age, Barnardo’s has said. Launching its fostering and adoption week, the charity highlighted statistics showing that a white child is three times more likely to be adopted than a black child, and the proportion of children being adopted drops from one in three when a child is age four or younger, to one in 15 when they turn five. Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie said: “These children may never experience the love and affection they need to grow and so many of us take for granted.”