Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a centre of excellence for the (a) care and (b) research of (i) post-viral and (ii) infection-associated conditions.

We do not anticipate setting up a new centre of excellence for care and research specifically for post-viral or infection-associated conditions. The Department funds research on post-viral conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC) remain committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment of post-viral and infection-associated conditions such as myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and long COVID, and are actively exploring next steps for stimulating further research in this area. The MRC and NIHR currently fund research through a variety of routes, including infrastructure, research programmes, capacity building, for example with research fellowships, and in the case of the NIHR, research delivery to support recruitment to studies. Funding is available for post-viral and infection-associated research.