Policy engagement

We work closely with a host of stakeholders – policy and decision makers, health professionals, regulators and researchers. Sometimes this includes direct engagement with politicians to inform them about relevant developments and convene or join discussions about our policy priorities.
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We contribute to policy development in different ways. This includes supporting relevant government departments, arm’s-length bodies, professional bodies and other organisations and groups with our evidence and expertise, though mechanisms including membership of committees and working groups, contribution to workshops and inquiries, and targeted intelligence or analysis. On occasion, we may also convene stakeholder meetings to facilitate discussion.

From 2015-2020 we provided the secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Personalised Medicine. The Group’s founding Chair was Jo Churchill, MP, later Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care, alongside Lord Norman Warner. The group provided a platform for politicians to explore the value of genomics and related technologies for the NHS. This mandate was fulfilled with the launch of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service and publication of the National Genomics Healthcare Strategy in 2020.

Selected parliamentary events run and evidence provided by our senior team in recent years are outlined below.
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2019
S3R1C1

Gene therapy in the NHS
APPG meeting with Matthew Durdy (Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult), Sir David Amess MP and Lord Norman Warner

Our Healthy Future
Launch of PHG Foundation policy report
S3R1C2

Towards a national genomic healthcare strategy
APPG roundtable, speakers Prof Sir John Bell (University of Oxford) and Ellen Graham (NHS England)
S3R1C3
 
 
 

2018
S4R1C1

Genomics and genome editing in the NHS
Oral evidence to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry
S4R1C2

How will AI benefit NHS cancer patients?
PHG Foundation roundtable with speakers Prof Carlos Caldas (University of Cambridge), Dr Alan Karthikesalingam (DeepMind Health) and Helen Whately MP
S4R1C3

Harnessing science and technology for personalised medicine
APPG reception with speakers Lord O’Shaughnessy (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health), Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed (University of Liverpool), Dr Adam Platt (AstraZeneca), Dr Mark Kroese (PHG Foundation) and Helen Whately, MP
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2017
S5R1C1

Implementing a National Genomic Medicine Service for the NHS
APPG on Health / APPG on Personalised Medicine meeting with Prof Sue Hill (NHS England), Prof Lyn Chitty (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), Dr Jean Abraham (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), Dr Hilary Burton (PHG Foundation), Helen Whately MP and Maggie Throup MP
S5R1C2

Artificial Intelligence
Oral evidence to the House of Lords inquiry

Personalised medicine for lung cancer
APPG roundtable with Janette Rawlinson (Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation), Dr Sanjay Popat (The Royal Marsden), Dr Robert Rintoul (Papworth Hospital) and Jo Churchill MP
S5R2C2

Personalised medicine for cardiovascular disease
APPG meeting with Prof Perry Elliott (UCL / Barts Heart Centre), Prof Jeremy Parson (British Heart Foundation) and Helen Whately MP

Genomics and genome editing
Oral evidence to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee inquiry
S5R2C3
 
 
 

2016
S6R1C1

The 100,000 Genomes Project: Transforming the NHS
APPG roundtable with Prof Mark Caulfield and Edward Sherley-Price (Genomics England), Prof Maria Bitner-Glindzicz (Institute of Child Health), and Jo Churchill MP
S6R1C2

Personalised medicine: what is it, and what does it mean for patients and the NHS?
APPG reception with George Freeman MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Life Sciences, Prof Peter Johnson (CRUK), Prof Hugh Watkins (University of Oxford) and Lord Norman Warner
S6R2C3
 
 
 

2015
S7R1C1

Everything you ever wanted to know about genomics (but were too afraid to ask)
Inaugural APPG meeting with Prof Frances Flinter (Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust), Dr Adrian Ibrahim (Sanger Institute) and Jo Churchill MP
S7R1C2

Jo Churchill
Jo Churchill MP
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