Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to promote research into muscular dystrophy conditions.

The Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including muscular dystrophies. 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.

Research on novel approaches to treating neuromuscular disease including Duchenne muscular dystrophy is being carried out by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust and the University College London Institute of Child Health.

The NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme is currently seeking to commission research on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mechanical insufflation-exsufflation devices when compared to other methods of sputum clearance commonly used in children and young people with neuromuscular disease.