Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ring-fencing Medical Research Council funds for biomedical research into ME in order to ensure that overall research funding for ME is proportional to that spent on research into similarly prevalent health conditions.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is part of the BEIS partner organisation, UK Research and Innovation. The MRC supports research relating to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in response to high-quality proposals from the research community.

The MRC does not generally ring-fence funding for specific conditions, however CFS/ME is an identified priority area for the MRC. Proposals are particularly encouraged in areas that explore the underpinning mechanisms of CFS/ME (including immune dysregulation), pain, improved sub-phenotyping and stratification of CFS/ME disease, and mechanisms of CFS/ME in children.

All proposals are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made according to their scientific quality and importance to human health.