Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on health research of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

The Government has stated its aim to establish a far-reaching science and innovation pact with the European Union, facilitating the exchange of ideas and researchers, and enabling the United Kingdom to participate in key programmes alongside our EU partners.

The Government is committed to securing a Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. However, as a responsible Government, we continue to prepare for all scenarios, including ‘no deal’. As part of these preparations, the Government is working across a range of workstreams to understand the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, and to ensure that the UK has the best possible environment for basic, biomedical, health, and life sciences research. This includes access to and mobility of research leaders and the technical and research delivery workforce; access to EU research funding; the regulation of clinical trials, data and devices; rare diseases research; and clinical trials supplies in a ‘no deal’ scenario.