Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his polices of the report entitled, Accelerating research for a treatment for motor neurone disease, published by the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the report. The Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and neurodegeneration, including motor neurone disease (MND). Over the past five years, the Department has spent over £9 million on MND research through the National Institute for Health Research. Additionally, UK Research and Innovation, through the Medical Research Council, has spent £45 million on MND research over the past five years. This includes research which aims to increase our understanding of the causes and genetic mechanisms of MND. We are currently working on ways to significantly boost further research on dementia and neurodegeneration at all stages on the translation pathway including medical and care interventions.