Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the contract awarded by his Department to the University of Bath in September 2014 for research study on tobacco taxation and tobacco industry pricing was awarded on a competitive tender basis; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research funds the Public Health Research (PHR) programme to generate evidence to inform the delivery of non-National Health Service interventions intended to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health. The programme has two workstreams: commissioned and researcher-led. The PHR commissioned workstream welcomes outline proposals in response to specific research questions prioritised for their public health importance. The application for the study ‘Understanding the impact of tobacco tax increases and tobacco industry pricing on smoking behaviours and inequalities’ was received through the researcher-led workstream and therefore did not go through a tender process via the commissioned workstream. Details of the PHR application process are available on the PHR website:

www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/phr/application-process