Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with (a) the National Institute for Health Research and (b) other NHS funding streams on the potential merits of increasing the level of funding made available to the South Asian Biobank to help monitor (i) disease diagnoses and (ii) health outcomes from that project among people from South Asian backgrounds.

The South Asian Biobank, originally funded by the Wellcome Trust, is an international research study designed to prevent the high risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer among South Asian people. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research via a range of programmes, with eligibility criteria to support applicants to decide where to apply. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. The NIHR has provided funding for research projects associated with the South Asian Biobank through open competition, and welcomes any future applications. In addition, the NIHR provides funding to NIHR research infrastructure through open competition. The NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the Clinical Research Network have provided support for the South Asian Biobank.