Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2018 to Question 159060 on the systematic reviews on the diagnosis, treatment, transmission and prevention of Lyme disease, if his Department will publish a response to those reviews identifying which of the recommendations of those reviews the Government is taking forward; what steps the Government is taking to implement those recommendations; and what the timetable is for the implementation of those recommendations.

The Department commissioned four independent separate systematic reviews of all relevant literature on the diagnosis, treatment, transmission and prevention of Lyme disease.

The four systematic reviews were completed and published in December 2017 which assessed the existing evidence. They do not make recommendations and the Department is not planning to publish a response. The Department is aware of the findings which were intended to clarify the existing evidence base on Lyme disease and are publicly available to the research community, all research funders and the public.

We are investing over £1 billion a year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research on Lyme disease including those that reflect the conclusions of the systematic reviews as part of its regular processes. All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.