Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing for research into the potential long-term health impacts, including an increased risk of dementia, of contact sport.

The Department of Health and Social Care commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is supporting research on the long-term effects of sport on brain health through the NIHR MedTech Co-operative. This includes a study on the detection of prodromal dementia symptoms in former professional footballers. The NIHR is also contributing to a £9.5 million research call to establish a United Kingdom Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) platform. The platform will support new research on the health impacts of TBI and concussion occurring through different contexts including sport. Additionally, the NIHR is supporting research into a potential link between concussion and dementia through the PROTECT study.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including the potential health impacts of contact sport. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has established a new Concussion in Sport Research Forum led by the Medical Research Council and UK Research and Innovation. The aim of this group is to bring together key academic experts with experience of traumatic brain injury, concussion and related areas to identify priority research questions for the sporting sector.

The Government remains committed to working with sports stakeholders to build on the positive work that is already taking place to mitigate the causes and effects of concussion in sport.