Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to improve the accuracy of tests for Lyme disease.

Public Health England (PHE) has an on-going evaluation programme of new Lyme tests and a new research programme in conjunction with University of Liverpool. PHE and the National Health Service are committed to using a test for which reproducible validation data exists, supported by evidence in peer reviewed publications. PHE participates in the European External Quality Assurance (EQA) scheme for Lyme disease testing which provides an independent assessment of performance. EQA is a mandatory requirement for all laboratory testing in the NHS as part of best practice. New assay systems will only be introduced if they can be shown to enhance the diagnosis of Lyme disease through scientifically conducted studies.