Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS has commissioned research on potential links between infertility and endometrium.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the largest public funder of health research in the United Kingdom. The NIHR is currently funding two specific studies researching potential links between infertility and endometrium, with combined total funding of over £3 million. One is on chronic endometritis and recurrent miscarriage, led by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. The second study is exploring induced endometrial trauma, which may help a fertilised egg implant in the womb, for women undergoing in vitro fertilisation. This is a multicentred randomised control trial being led by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Department commissions research through the NIHR and welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including potential links between infertility and endometrium. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.