Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of commissioning research on the long-term health impact associated with occupational exposure to higher-risk medicines within the NHS workforce.

The Department supports health and social care research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR invites funding applications for research into any area of human health and care, including the long-term health effects of occupational exposure to higher-risk medicines within the National Health Service workforce. All applications are assessed through peer review and open competition, with awards granted based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. By welcoming proposals on this topic across all NIHR programmes, the Department ensures maximum flexibility in both the level of funding available and the type of research that may be supported. The Government has not specifically commissioned any research into the long-term health impact of occupational exposure to higher-risk medicines within the NHS workforce.