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Scheduled Event - Friday 29th May - Add to calendar
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Commons - Private Members' Bills - Main Chamber
Breast Cancer Screening (Review) Bill 2024-26
MP: Wera Hobhouse
Written Question
Eating Disorders: Research
Monday 2nd March 2026

Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to help support the Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative UK, including to improve understanding of the genetic and environmental factors associated with such conditions and to develop more effective treatments.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care including eating disorders.

Through the NIHR, the Department directly supports the Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative UK (EDGI), which is a collaboration between King’s College London, NIHR BioResource, and the eating disorder charity Beat. EDGI is the largest study of eating disorders ever conducted in England, aiming to collect psychological, medical, and genetic information of 10,000 people with experience of an eating disorder.

The NIHR recently partnered with other mental health research funders (the Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Medical Research Foundation) in a funding initiative that supports new collaborations in eating disorders research, bringing together eating disorders experts and researchers not previously involved in this field. Funded work includes studies that examine biological and environmental risk factors for eating disorders, and work that collaborates with the EDGI project.

Scheduled Event - 26 Feb 2026, 1:30 p.m. - Add to calendar
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Commons - Westminster Hall debate - Westminster Hall
Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026
MP: Wera Hobhouse
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Business of the House

"Lib Dem-run Bath and North East Somerset council is deeply concerned that the Government’s proposed reforms to the national planning policy framework will cap local ambitions on meeting net zero through sustainable development. National minimum environmental standards must not become a ceiling that prevents councils from aiming to go beyond …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Business of the House
Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week

"One of the most harrowing things that we hear again and again when taking evidence in the APPG is how families feel completely abandoned. People have to give up work, often over years, because they are meant to care for someone with a severe condition and they do not have …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week

"It is also worth mentioning the many people who have come forward to bravely tell their stories, raise awareness and take away the stigma. We know how much courage it takes to come forward. I want to collectively thank everybody who does that. We need more people to come forward …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week

"Does the hon. Gentleman agree that another big consideration is the mental health toll on people who work in eating disorder services and know that they cannot provide an adequate service to the many people who suffer? What are we doing for the people who work in these services and …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week

"It is worth mentioning again that if a person with an eating disorder does not get treatment, it takes them three times as long as they have been suffering to recover. If they have suffered from an eating disorder for three years, it takes them nine years to fully recover. …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week

"I beg to move,

That this House has considered Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026.

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. This year, Eating Disorders Awareness Week is centred on the theme of community. Over the past six years, as chair of the eating …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 26 Feb 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week

"The Minister is very generous with his time. I mentioned this issue in my speech and I see it across the board, not just with regard to eating disorders. The Online Safety Act provides that Ofcom can intervene, but only if the content is reported, so we are relying on …..."
Wera Hobhouse - View Speech

View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Eating Disorders Awareness Week