Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what governance arrangements they have proposed for the newly designated Academic Research Collaborations.

Following, a new, open competition, the Government has recently announced National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) designation and funding for 15 Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs), with total funding of £135 million over five years from 1 October 2019.

Each NIHR ARC will have its own local governance arrangements in place, with the named Director of each NIHR ARC having responsibility, and authority over, the NIHR funding awarded to their National Health Service organisations through the scheme. Under the terms of the NIHR contract, the NIHR ARCs will be required to submit annual progress reports and can be subject site visits to evaluate progress, performance and identify key issues.

All NIHR ARCs are required to ensure that research is conducted in accordance with the United Kingdom Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research and the Concordat to Support Research Integrity and the Governance Arrangements for Research Ethics Committees.