A BRADFORD MP has called on the Government to put a "greater focus" on the use of nitrous oxide (N20) across the UK after community centres shared concerns about its accessibility.

Nitrous Oxide, also known as laughing gas or nos, is a colourless gas which is often inhaled using balloons.

Widely used in food including whipped cream canisters, the gas is usually stored in small silver canisters.

Philip Davies (Conservative, Shipley) put written questions to ministers following a report in the Telegraph & Argus about usage in Bradford district and beyond.

In recent days, one Bradford resident was forced to clean up 670 nitrous oxide canisters left by a group of friends in Judy Woods.

While police in Wakefield described the use of N20 as a "recent drug craze that’s happening in and around the Wakefield District".

There are also concerns about N20 in Ireland after one teenage boy from Dublin died after inhaling the psychoactive substance.

The MP asked cabinet members to explain what they had in place to educate people on the dangers of nitrous oxide inhalation and if they had made an assessment of the use of N20 across the country.

Kit Malthouse, the minister of state for crime, policing and the fire service, responded by saying: "Public Health England continues to provide information on the dangers of nitrous oxide through FRANK and support in schools. FRANK, the government’s drug information and advisory website, provides information on a wide range of drugs, including advice on what to do if people are concerned about their own use of the drug, or someone else’s use. It is regularly updated in response to changing patterns of drug use and emerging information. FRANK also signposts users to support services and provides a 24 hour free-to-use confidential helpline, text and email message services and online chat. FRANK offers information about nitrous oxide covering the risks of use, including taking it with alcohol.

"FRANK receives over 500,000 visits per month with high levels of awareness and trust.

"The government is continuing to monitor the effect of Covid-19 on drug use and markets through official sources and through our partners."

While Chris Philp, the home office and justice minister, wrote back: "To identify the number of prosecutions specifically for use of nitrous oxide under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 would require a manual search of court records as this level of detail (specific substance) is not held within the courts proceedings database; which would be of disproportionate cost."

Mr Davies said: “I am very grateful to the T&A for raising the awareness of this issue, and I wanted to raise the issue with the Minister.

"I think the answers show that much more needs to be learnt about the scale of the use of nitrous oxides in particular and I hope a greater focus will now be placed on that.”