Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to establish a ring-fenced research fund for studying the reproductive safety of sodium valproate.

The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), commissions a range of research to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes. For example, the NIHR is currently funding a £2.7 million award which aims to improve outcomes, for both mother and baby, in pregnant women with epilepsy through early identification of women and their babies at risk of complications, and to promote safe antiepileptic drug (AED) use.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including AEDs such as sodium valproate. 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. Welcoming applications to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.