Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that clinical trials across all disease areas are resilient to disruption from future outbreaks of covid-19 and other pandemics.

On 23 March 2021 the Government published its vision for the future of clinical research delivery in the United Kingdom. This includes the aim to create a research system resilient to future public health emergencies through the use of innovative trial designs and with the support of digital solutions and systems. To support this vision, we have identified five key themes which underpin the improvements we will take forward in the coming years as follows:

- Clinical research embedded in the National Health Service;

- Patient-centred research;

- Streamlined, efficient and innovative research;

- Research enabled by data and digital tools; and

- A sustainable and supported research workforce.

An implementation plan and strategy setting out how the Government will begin to deliver the vision will be published later this year.