Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of integrating (a) clinical and (b) applied research with clinical practice.

In March 2021, the Government published ‘Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery’. Embedding research delivery in the National Health Service and all health and care settings is a key theme of this vision and an aim of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which is funded by the Department.

The Health and Care Act 2022 includes a requirement that “Each integrated care board must, in the exercise of its functions, facilitate or otherwise promote - (a) research on matters relevant to the health service, and (b) the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.” NHS England has issued guidance for integrated care systems (ICSs) on maximising the benefits of research. This guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/maximising-the-benefits-of-research/ ICSs also have a duty to include research in their joint forward plans and annual reports and NHS England has a duty to assess that these duties have been discharged.