Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will meet with representatives from Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation Partnership to discuss their plans to deliver investment in respiratory research and development in the UK.

Departmental officials regularly engage with Asthma + Lung UK on a range of issues. My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also met with representatives of Asthma + Lung UK at COP26 in November 2021.

The Department invests £1.3 billion a year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR supports a range of research to improve outcomes in respiratory health. This includes funding for two dedicated NIHR Health Protection Research Units, specialising in respiratory infections and the health impacts of environmental exposures, such as air pollution.