Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the National Institute for Health Research has made of the merits of funding projects to establish the potential effect of microplastics on human health.

The National Institute for Health Research is funding research on microplastic toxicity in humans through the Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Exposure, which is led by Imperial College London and Public Health England. This work will be reported in peer reviewed academic journals in due course.