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 maintain levels of funding for epilepsy (a) research and (b) treatment after the UK leaves the EU.

The Government funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and the healthcare system, including epilepsy. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics. After the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, the NIHR will continue to welcome applications for funding, which will be 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.

There have been 10 studies directly funded by the NIHR relating to epilepsy in the last five financial years, from 2013/14 to 2017/18, with total spend of £9.4 million. Additionally, over the same period, there has been support through the NIHR Clinical Research Networks for 180 studies, with total expenditure of £16.7 million, as well as support for 95 studies through other NIHR infrastructure. There are a further four NIHR-funded studies starting in 2019 related to epilepsy.