Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking through health research and innovation programmes to support the use of artificial intelligence in the development of treatments for neurological conditions.

The Department delivers research into neurological conditions via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is funding Developing safe conversational artificial intelligence for specialist NHS neurology services. This research will explore the quality, safety, fairness, and acceptability of clinical artificial intelligence (AI) assistants in the National Health Service.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care topics, including the use of AI in the development of treatments for neurological conditions. 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.

Launching this June, the NIHR Innovation Catalyst is designed to accelerate the development and evaluation of innovative health technologies, such as AI. It brings together funding, infrastructure, and expertise to help innovators generate the evidence needed to move technologies more quickly towards real‑world use. Overall, it aims to get effective new technologies to patients faster.