Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help improve research on (a) understanding, (b) treating and (c) diagnosing respiratory disease.

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 understanding, treating and diagnosing respiratory disease.

In addition, the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Respiratory Infections is a research partnership between the Imperial College London and the UK Health Security Agency. The Unit specifically supports research projects across influenza, tuberculosis and other respiratory infections.