Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has undertaken (a) directly, (b) through research councils and (c) with international partners on antimicrobial resistance.

The Department is investing over £1 billion a year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR supports a wide portfolio of research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through various funding streams. In the United Kingdom, investment includes £32 million of capital funding to support AMR research, £19.1 million for AMR research at four NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, and £8.8 million for two NIHR Health Protection Research Units on Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance.

The NIHR also supports research into AMR in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), with official development assistance (ODA) funding through the NIHR Global Health Research programme. Investment includes support for the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Genomic Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance, and the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Genomic Surveillance of Malaria in West Africa.

Working through partnerships with other UK funders, the NIHR Global Health Research programme also supports cross-Research Council initiatives including one led by the Medical Research Council for research into AMR in a global context, and another led by the Economic and Social Research Council to expand understanding of how behaviour within and beyond the healthcare system impacts on AMR.

In addition, the Department has allocated over £50 million of ODA over five years to AMR research through the Global AMR Innovation Fund. This research is delivered through a range of mechanisms and delivery partners, including research councils such as the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK, and international partners including the Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States and German governments, and Canada’s International Development Research Centre.