Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to link UK medical research strengths to (a) national and (b) regional clinical needs.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the Government’s research funding body for translational, clinical, applied and public health research, funds high quality research for the benefit of the National Health Service, public health, social care, patients and the public. The NIHR’s infrastructure covers all of England, such as the NIHR Clinical Research Network and the NIHR Applied Research Centres. It is a strategic priority for the NIHR that research must follow patient and public needs, and it works in partnership with the public, the health, public health and social care workforce, policy-makers and service commissioners and providers to identify the current and emerging challenges and where evidence is most needed.