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 diagnose long covid in young children.

NHS England and NHS Improvement has established 14 paediatric hubs to coordinate care for children and young people with ‘long’ COVID-19. Any parent or guardian concerned that their child may be exhibiting symptoms should seek advice from their general practitioner, who will be able to refer the child for assessment if appropriate.

We have so far invested £50 million into research for ‘long’ COVID-19. This includes £1.4 million over three years for The CLoCk Study on ‘long’ COVID-19 among non-hospitalised children and young people.