Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the decline in the number of clinical trials, and (2) its impact on patient outcomes.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) supports study sites to deliver research across England. In 2021/22 there were 6,383 studies on the NIHR CRN portfolio which has seen year-on-year growth in study numbers, recruiting more than one million participants. Overall, this suggests there are greater opportunities for people to participate in clinical trials that could benefit patient outcomes. The Department, in partnership with NHS England, is taking action to recover the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) capacity to deliver clinical research through the Research Reset programme to ensure new studies can open and be delivered within planned timescales, while addressing the backlog caused by the pandemic to ensure the UK remains an attractive global destination for new research.