Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disease (PANDAS); and if his will make it his policy for officials in his Department to attend the the first PANDAS UK conference at Imperial College London on 22 September 2018.

Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disease Associated with Streptococcal Infections is a term used to describe a subset of children and adolescents who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and/or tic disorders, and in whom symptoms worsen following streptococcal (strep) infections. Treatment for these symptoms, including psychological therapies, is available from the National Health Service.

The Department does not require its staff to attend specific external events, but practitioners from the NHS will be taking part at the PANDAS UK conference on 22 September.