Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support research into lung disease.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds a wide range of research on this topic. Expenditure by the NIHR on respiratory disease research, including research into lung disease, has increased by over two thirds from £15.7 million in 2009/10 to £26.7 million in 2015/16 (the latest available figure).

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including lung disease. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.