Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has commissioned research into the (a) causation and (b) treatment of children with chronic fatigue syndrome.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is funding four research projects with a specific focus on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in children, with a combined funding value of approximately £1.5 million. Between them, these projects are focussed on characterising ME/CFS in children and developing and identifying potential treatments, rather than elucidating an underlying cause. More broadly, the NIHR has provided approximately £4.4 million for research on ME/CFS since 2011. The NIHR welcomes applications for research into ME/CFS causation and treatment in children.