Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to fund research to (a) tackle the causes of and (b) treat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including on the causes and treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

In the last five years, the NIHR has allocated approximately £3.44 million to support nine research projects on ME and chronic fatigue syndrome. The NIHR is also co-funding, with the Medical Research Council, a £3.2 million study called DecodeME, which is the world’s largest genetic study of the disease.