Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that researchers in the UK can continue to access pan-EU patient cohorts for rare disease and other special populations after the UK has withdrawn from the EU; and if he will make a statement.

The Government's policy paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper, emphasises the importance of continued collaboration with European partners to ensure that the United Kingdom remains one of the best places in the world for science and innovation. European Reference Networks for rare diseases were cited in the paper as an example of a partnership that the UK believes should continue.

A key principle for the Government is that patients should not be put at a disadvantage as a result of European Union-exit.