Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Action 10 on page 22 of the Life Sciences Sector Plan, published on 16 July 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that musculoskeletal conditions are included in plans to increase investment in health research and development focused on primary and secondary prevention and multiple long-term conditions.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health including a variety of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions such as arthritis, including osteo, rheumatoid, psoriatic, juvenile arthritis, osteoporosis, and joint and back pain. This includes research on primary and secondary prevention of MSK and the interaction and co-concurrence of MSK with other long-term conditions. Current investments across the NIHR include:

- the UK Musculoskeletal Translational Research Collaboration, which works across all sectors of the health and care system to collate expertise, resources, and to develop novel innovations to benefit those experiencing MSK related conditions, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/what-we-do/infrastructure/translational-research-collaborations/musculosceletal;

- the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, which is evaluating new devices and surgical interventions, using large datasets to find new ways to identify and treat MSK conditions and testing new drug delivery systems to help treat MSK conditions, with further information available at the following link:
https://oxfordbrc.nihr.ac.uk/research-themes/musculoskeletal/; and

- a major research grant exploring whether long-term conditions such as arthritis can be predicted by a person’s level of inflammation. Predicting these conditions will enable better intervention, prevention, and treatment, with further information available at the following link:
https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR205461.