Progress reports

Depending on what approval you have received you may be asked to complete a progress report to keep us up to date with how your research is progressing.

Research Ethics Committee (REC)

If the study was reviewed by a Research Ethics Committee (REC) in Scotland or Northern Ireland, an annual progress report should be submitted 12 months after the date on which the favourable ethics opinion was given. However, progress reports are not required in the following instances:

• if the study is expected to run for less than two years in duration
• if the study received a proportionate review
• if the study received a favourable ethics opinion from a REC in England or Wales.

If your study was given a favourable ethics opinion by a REC in Scotland or Northern Ireland, there are separate forms for submitting progress reports, depending on the type of research. Please use the form that is applicable to your type of research.

You should complete the forms in typescript. They will need to be authorised by the Chief Investigator or the sponsor/sponsor representative.

An electronic copy should be emailed to the REC within 30 days of the end of the reporting period.

• Annual progress report form for clinical trials of investigational medicinal products (CTIMPs)
  
• Annual progress report form for all other research
  
• Annual Report form for Research Databases
  
• Annual Report form for Research Tissue Banks

HRA and HCRW Approval

For research with HRA and HCRW Approval which were not required to be reviewed by a REC, progress reports are not required.

Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) annual review

All approvals are reviewed annually to assess the need for continuing approval and to ensure that progress towards, or achievement of, any conditions of approval is in place. This review is carried out following submission of an annual review report.

At this stage you should consider if it would be possible to reduce the amount of confidential patient information that you are processing.

To allow sufficient time for processing, an annual review report should be submitted to the Confidentiality Advice Team by email four weeks before the approval expires (i.e. no later than 11 months following the final approval date) using the report template. This will be assessed by the Confidentiality Advice Team in the first instance.

Early termination or temporary halt of research

If the research is terminated early or is temporarily suspended, you should notify all relevant review bodies within 15 days.