Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of a dedicated research and development funding allocation for a virtual motor neurone disease translational research institute.

This Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and neurodegeneration, including motor neurone disease (MND). Last fiscal year, UKRI spent £15.9 million on MND research. This builds on wider funding for medical research charities including £204 million Research England funding in AY 20-21, the charity research support funding element of Quality-related Research, and UKRI’s funding for the Crick Institute. The UK Dementia Research Institute, founded with £190 million of government funding through UKRI, already includes research on scientific understanding of motor neurone disease as a neurodegenerative condition.

Future funding decisions will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review 2021.