Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to (a) reduce the incidence of Lyme disease and (b) increase awareness of that disease.

The GOV.UK and NHS websites provide information to the public on the recognition of Lyme disease, tick awareness and the prevention of tick bites. This is available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/lyme-disease-guidance-data-and-analysis

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Lyme-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Public Health England (PHE) holds regular training days for general practitioners (GPs), and works with external organisations and charities to promote public awareness and training for GPs. PHE operates a tick surveillance system to identify tick distribution across England. PHE has been encouraging local authorities and park authorities to develop local public health material regarding tick risks and dealing with bites.