Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) life sciences and (b) health innovation programmes his Department provides funding to in the North East.

The Department supports the United Kingdom life sciences sector via the Office for Life Sciences and provides funding for research infrastructure across the whole of England through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

In the North East, the Newcastle Health Innovation Partners (NHIP) works with innovators to discover, develop and deliver new solutions in healthcare to improve the health of its population. The NHIP brings together the NIHR research infrastructure, the NIHR Clinical Research Network and the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria.

The Government’s Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund supports businesses investing in life sciences manufacturing projects in the UK. Two companies in the North East have been awarded funding.